Orlando Leon of Watauga was named Player of the Year in football in the Northwestern 3A-4A in a vote by the league’s head coaches.
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
Watauga and Hibriten lead the All-Northwestern 3A-4A football team, taking the league’s top five awards in voting by head coaches.
League champion Watauga produced Player of the Year Orlando Leon, Defensive Player of the Year Grant Lawrence and Coach of the Year Ryan Habich.
Hibriten quarterback Coby Wilson was named Offensive Player of the Year and teammate Trent Cornett won Specialist of the Year.
Watauga finished 8-3 – ousted in the first round of the state 4A playoffs by Cuthberston — and Hibriten went 8-4 and was eliminated in the third round of the state 3A playoffs by Statesville.
Leon unofficially rushed 12 times for 159 yards and had 15 catches for 365 yards for the Pioneers, finishing with two rushing scores, four TD catches and a fumble return for a TD. On defense, he had 15 solo tackles, 28 assists, six tackles for lost yardage, three fumble recoveries and an interception.
Wilson’s final season stats are not yet available. He went into the Statesville game (unofficially) with 626 rushing yards and 745 passing yards.
Lawrence is credited with 16 tackles, two for lost yardage, in eight games for the Watauga defense.
Cornett finished (unofficially) with 34 PATs and one field goal for Hibriten.
Habich improved his record at Watauga to 82-27 in nine seasons in Boone. The Pioneers have won four conference titles under Habich, all in the last four seasons.
ALL-NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A FOOTBALL: NWC FB 2021 All Conference (1)
VOLLEYBALL
Conference champion Watauga swept the top awards and led a 16-member team picked by head coaches with seven picks.
Player of the Year went to the Pioneers’ Caroline Farthing, a junior who had 395 kills, 1,008 assists, 55 aces, 48 blocks and 258 digs.
Junior Brooke Scheffler of Watauga won Offensive Player of the Year while Brelyun Sturgill, a senior, won Defensive Player of the Year.
Watauga head coach Kim Pryor was named Coach of the Year.
ALL-NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A VOLLEYBALL: NWC VB 2021 All Conference
BOYS SOCCER
Matt Taubman of Watauga and David Franquiz of Hibriten shared Player of the Year.
Hibriten’s Kevin Riveria-Rios was named Offensive Player of the Year and Austin Sink of Alexander Central gained Defensive Player of the Year.
Watauga’s Josh Honeycutt was selected Coach of the Year.
ALL-NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A BOYS SOCCER: NWC Men’s Soccer 2021 All Conference (1)
GIRLS GOLF
Hibriten swept league awards with Trinity White as the top player and her coach, Larry Taylor, named Coach of the Year.
ALL-NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A GIRLS GOLF: NWC WoGolf 2021 All Conference
GIRLS TENNIS
Jillian Rissert of Watauga was named Player of the Year and the coaching award went to Alexander Central’s Courtney Barber.
Watauga led the all-league team of 14 players with five.
ALL-NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A GIRLS TENNIS: NWC WoTen 2021 All Conference
CROSS COUNTRY
Katie Deacon of Freedom was named the girls’ Runner of the Year and Coach of the Year went to Randy McDonough of Watauga.
Watauga grabbed nine of the 13 spots on all-conference.
Ethan Campbell, who led Watauga to a boys’ title, was named Runner of the Year and McDonough added Coach of the Year.
ALL-NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A GIRLS: NWC Women’s CC 2021 All Conference
ALL NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A BOYS: NWC Men’s CC 2021 All Conference
