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Watauga Pioneers Stay Unbeaten with 58-7 Victory Over Avery County Vikings

By Nathan Ham

The final chapter of the Watauga and Avery County rivalry went to the Pioneers on Friday night. Watauga was just too much for the visitors to handle as the Pioneers ran for over 400 yards and recorded seven rushing touchdowns.

Watauga held a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and was up 35-0 at the halftime break.

Avery County was held scoreless until the fourth quarter when they got their first and only touchdown of the evening.

The Pioneers were led offensively by quarterback Jackson Greene. The senior, who has spent two games filling in for the injured Anderson Castle, completed 4-of-8 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, he was nearly unstoppable. Greene needed just seven carries to get 201 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged almost 29 yards per carry.

Bryce Satterfield returned from a one-game absence to rush for 100 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. Jaiden Bond added two carries for 46 yards and a touchdown, Jaxon Harmon had one carry for 42 yards and a touchdown and Zach West had one carry for 13 yards and a touchdown. Overall, the Pioneers ran for 402 yards and seven touchdowns on 19 carries, a team average of 21.2 yards per carry.

Bond led the team in receiving with three catches for 64 yards. Eli Suggs had one catch for 30 yards and a touchdown.

For Avery County, quarterback Sam McCollum completed 12-of-22 passes for 91 yards and an interception. He also added 37 rushing yards on the ground. Backup quarterback Troy Hoilman came in and completed 7-of-9 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown.

Lucas Andrews carried the ball 13 times for 51 yards.

Eli Hayes caught seven passes for 37 yards and a touchdown. Jesse Jones had three grabs for 69 yards and Jonas Bowman had three catches for 58 yards.

Watauga (3-0) will wrap up their non-conference regular season schedule at Wilkes Central (1-2) on Friday. Avery County (0-3) will host neighboring Cloudland (TN) on Friday. The Highlanders will enter their clash against Avery County with a 1-1 record.

Other scores

Hibriten 56, Ashe County 14

Cloudland (TN) 50, North Greene (TN) 6

Johnson County (TN) 43, Chuckey-Doak (TN) 23

West Iredell 48, West Caldwell 6

Freedom 55, East Burke 13

Alexander Central 54, North Iredell 3

Patton 35, McDowell 13

East Rutherford 70, South Caldwell 44

Newton-Conover 35, Hickory 6

Bishop-McGuinness 21, Avery County 7

Wilkes Central 49, Surry Central 6

East Wilkes 48, Forbush 19

West Wilkes 44, North Stokes 0