HobbsDailyReport.com
MORGANTON – Holding Freedom to minus rushing yardage, visiting Watauga hammered the Patriots 42-0 in Northwestern 3A-4A high school football on Friday night to again reach eight wins under head coach Ryan Habich.
The Pioneers (8-2, 4-2) were dominant as they beat the Patriots (6-4, 3-3) for only the fifth time since 1981 and far outdistanced their previous win margins of 28, 19, seven and six points in the series.
WATAUGA 42
FREEDOM 0
Running back Bryce Satterfield scored twice and rushed 21 times for 99 yards to lead Watauga, which is tied for second with Hickory heading into Friday’s regular season finales.
Watauga plays West Caldwell in Boone of Friday at 7:30 p.m. while Freedom travels to McDowell for a conference game.
The Pioneers got two TD runs from quarterback Anderson Castle in their shutout win, their third victory Morganton in 16 games.
Watauga led 21-0 at the half after Castle scored on a 4-yard run, Satterfield scored from the 1 and Zachary West scored on a 28-yard run.
West had a 43-yard TD run in the third quarter, when Castle also ran 12 yards for a score, and Castle capped the scoring with a 1-yard TD run in the final quarter.
Watauga had 414 yards on offense (360 rushing) and the Patriots were limited to 140 yards as their rushing total was 18 carries for minus-8 yards.
Freedom quarterback Jayden Birchfield completed 22 of 34 passes for 148 yards, throwing nine times to Tristan Sommerville for 60 yards.
All five Watauga teams coached by Habich have now won at least eight games, and a win over West Caldwell would produce back-to-back nine-win teams for the Pioneers.
Freedom needs a win over McDowell to have won seven games in seven of the last eight years. The Patriots went 6-6 last season.
Watauga is expected to get into the state playoffs for the seventh straight season and for the 11th time in 12 years.