Watauga handles Cougars
By Steve Behr

sports@wataugademocrat.com

Watauga boys’ soccer coach Doug Kidd was worried about the task of beating a team three times in one season, especially when one of the games is in the playoffs.

However, sometimes a team is just dominant enough to not only beat another three times, but to do it with relative ease. Watauga did that by beating Northwestern 4-A Conference rival Alexander Central 6-0 in the first round of the state 4-A playoffs at Jack Groce Stadium.

Watauga (15-6-2) got off to a slow start, which Kidd blamed mostly not playing a game in nine days. But once the Pioneers started finding the back of the Cougars’ goal, the scoring picked up dramatically.

Then again, scoring goals against Alexander Central (13-11-1) has not been a big problem this year. Watauga beat the Cougars 7-0 their first meeting and 5-0 two weeks ago. Overall, Watauga outscored the Cougars 18-0 this season and in the overall series between the two teams, Watauga holds a 27-3-1 advantage.

“First of all, give Alexander Central a lot of credit,” Kidd said. “They played extremely well tonight. I think things that hurt us was trying to beat somebody a third time, we took them a little lightly. Not playing in nine days, we were a little off starting off. But to the credit of our team, we found a way to score two goals, two great goals, so that really helped us relax better and get us into form in the second half.”

It took the Pioneers 36 to get on the board Wednesday night. Watauga, after nearly scoring a goal, retained possession for a corner kick. The ball was headed out of trouble by the Cougars, but Ben Robertson intercepted the ball and sent a line drive to the back of the Alexander Central for the Pioneers’ first goal.

Just minutes later, Brandon Koch sent a quick, low line-drive pass to Luke Robertson, who made a nice move in squaring himself to get a good shot on goal. The ball easily slipped past the Alexander keeper and Watauga held a 2-0 halftime lead.

“Both of them were super,” Kidd said. “Brandon Koch had a perfect ball in and Luke did a great job judging it and finishing.”

Jennings Rex added a goal just five minutes into the second half to give the Pioneers a commanding 3-0 lead. David Fisher and Luke Robertson added the next two goals, giving Watauga a 5-0 lead.

Rex scored again with 23 minutes left in the game to close out the scoring.

Watauga hosts Greensboro Grimsley this Saturday, but a time has not been determined.