New Watauga QB shines in win over Ashe County
Editor’s note: A game story on St. Stephens will be posted separately on the website.
HobbsDailyReport.com
Lyndon Strickland ran for three touchdowns and returned a fumble for another on Friday night, sparking Alexander Central High’s 50-7 victory over Wilkes Central that extends the Cougars’ win streak in the series to 15 straight games.
Strickland scored on runs of 4, 2 and 4 yards in the first half, when the Cougars (2-0) built a 29-0 lead, and it was 43-0 after he returned a fumble 41 yards for a TD with one minute, four seconds left in the third quarter.
The Cougars threw only twice and rushed 38 times for 314 yards and checked the Eagles (0-2) on 104 yards to beat Wilkes Central for the eighth straight time in Taylorsville.
Alexander Central head coach Butch Carter, 19-7 with the Cougars, moved closer to 125 career wins. He is at 123 in his 19th season.
Steven Montgomery ran nine times for a team-high 117 yards for Alexander Central. He scored the game’s opening TD on a 5-yard run with 5:29 to go in the first quarter and added a 44-yard scoring run with 4:42 to go in the third quarter.
Strickland was a defensive star for the Cougars, finishing with three tackles – two sacks for minus 19 yards and a tackle for a loss of two yards.
Bryson Abernathy returned an interception 30 yards for Alexander Central’s final TD in the closing three minutes.
Jordan Brown’s eight tackles led the Alexander Central defense while Rhyeem Craig added seven tackles and Lucas Walker and Isaac Chapman had five each.
The Cougars did not have to punt in Friday’s game and won despite the Eagles having the ball for seven minutes more.
Alexander Central is at home Friday at 7:30 p.m. to face North Iredell (2-0), which started the season with a 25-game losing streak.
Freedom 57, Draughn 0
Freedom remained unbeaten against Draughn, winning for the 10th time in the series, as junior quarterback Jayden Birchfield threw for four TDs at Freedom.
The victory evened Freedom’s record at 1-1 and gave head coach Luke Little his first win with the Patriots.
Freedom was up 15-0 in the second quarter and then blew the game open on a scoring run by Traevon Lytle and two TD passes by Birchfield.
Birchfield threw for 260 yards and had 291 yards of total offense in one half of play.
Caldwell had nearly 90 yards in receptions.
Draughn quarterback Braxton Cox threw for almost 130 yards, hitting Colton Sigmon seven times.
Freedom travels to Icard on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. for its annual Fat Friday game against East Burke.
Draughn is at home Friday night at 7:30 p.m., facing Brevard.
Watauga 43, Ashe County 7
Jackson Greene, making his first start at quarterback for the Pioneers, threw for 229 yards and two TDs by completing 11 of his 14 passes as Watauga (2-0) rolled to 469 yards of total offense.
Greene was under center last week when Watauga lost returning starting quarterback Anderson Castle early in the game at Asheville Roberson, and it appears Greene will be the starter for at least a month.
WATA Radio in Boone reported Castle has an injured forearm that will sideline him for at least a month.
On Friday night, Greene accounted for 366 yards total offense and also returned an interception 37 yards for a score as Watauga ran its win streak over Ashe County to four games and won for the 15th time in the last 16 game in the series.
Watauga led 14-0 at the half and had a 22-point third quarter.
Ashe County was held to four rushing yards.
Eli Suggs had three catches for 127 yards and one TD reception for the Pioneers, who won their ninth straight home game and their 15th straight regular-season home game.
The victory pushed Watauga head coach Ryan Habich to 95 in his 12th season and he’s won 45 games at Watauga.
Watauga is at home on Friday night, facing Avery County with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
WATA INTERVIEW WITH WATAUGA HEAD COACH RYAN HABICH: https://www.goblueridge.net/index.php/sports/39738-greene-pioneers-romp-past-huskies
Hibriten 58, West Caldwell 0
The Panthers continued several streaks with a blowout of the visiting Warriors – they have won 18 straight games, 14 straight home games in the regular season, 11 straight home games and beat West Caldwell for the 16th straight time.
The Panthers led 21-0 after one quarter and 44-0 by halftime.
Marqwone Jones opened the scoring with a 52-yard TD run and McKinley Witherspoon had a 45-yard scoring run while the Hibriten defense contributed two safeties, the last making it 30-0.
Jones also added a 1-yard TD run and Aaron Logan, Daren Penny, Kevon Wilson and Noah Isbell also ran for scores for the Panthers.
Hibriten head coach Clay Lewis picked up his 83rd career victory.
The Panthers are at home Friday night at 7:30 p.m. against Ashe County.
West Caldwell (0-2), outscored 100-0 in its first two games this season, goes to West Iredell for a non-conference game on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Kings Mountain 42, South Caldwell 6
The host Mountaineers (1-0) held the Spartans (0-1) without a first down in the first half, and Chris Brittain scored three times for Kings Mountain in the opening game of the season for both teams.
Quarterback Kaylon Wade threw for more than 270 yards in the win for the Mountaineers.
Brittain ran 15 yards for a score and caught passes of 13 and 25 yards for TDs.
South Caldwell’s only score came on a pass from Jason Martin to Austin Raynor.
The Spartans fell to 0-4 against the Mountaineers. They’re 0-2 at Kings Mountain, losing 14-0 in 1988 in their last visit.
The Spartans open their home schedule on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. against East Rutherford.
McDowell 52, Avery County 27
Quarterback Adam Randolph had 270 yards of total offense – completing 14 of 17 passes for 222 yards and three TDs – as the Titans outlasted the Vikings on the road.
With running back J.C. Olivio running for nearly 120 yards and two scores, Andruw Randolph catching five passes for just shy of 100 yards and Dakota Effler catching two TDs, the Titans (2-0) beat Avery County for the fourth straight time.
Avery County quarterback Sam McCollum had 21 completions for 182 yards and two scores but was intercepted twice.
The Titans led 28-19 at the half and held the Vikings to 102 yards in the second half.
Effler’s second scoring catch, with about eight minutes left in the third quarter, boosted McDowell’s lead to 35-19.
McDowell is at home on Friday night at 7:30 p.m., facing Patton.