Commentary: Pioneers enjoyed great fall season
By Steve Behr, sports editor

sports@wataugademocrat.com

Could this year get any better for Watauga’s athletic department?

Watauga’s 25-13 victory over A.C. Reynolds gave the Pioneers a share of the Northwestern 4-A Conference championship Friday. The Pioneers begin the state 4-A playoffs Friday at Jack Groce Stadium as the No. 1 seed in the 4-A bracket and will be at home as long as they keep winning.

It’s the first time Watauga has won an NWC championship in football since the school moved up to 4-A. It’s the first football league title since 1981. That was 26 years, four presidents and really, a generation ago. Gas was still under a dollar per gallon, I think, and I could look down and still see my feet, unlike now.

Yet the Pioneers are not the only team at Watauga High School to win a conference championship this fall.

They are the fifth.

The autumn of 2007 has been very good to this athletic program. Watauga has won NWC championships in girls’ tennis, volleyball, soccer and boys’ cross country. The girls’ cross country team was second at the NWC meet, but finished in front of league champ South Caldwell in the regional.

But those teams have been in the winner’s circle before. Doug Kidd has built a powerhouse soccer program in the fall and in the spring when the girls play. It seems to be state law that the girls’ tennis team wins NWC championships and the volleyball team has lost one NWC game in two years.

Not to be outdone, cross country coach Randy McDonough continues to crank out league championships year after year.

The football team is relatively new to this success thing. Yes, they made a remarkable run through the 4-A playoffs last year, reaching the semifinals before falling to West Charlotte.

However, Watauga did not win the conference championship in 2006. A.C. Reynolds did, going 6-0 in the league.

Sure, winning in the playoffs is probably more important. Yet there is something special about winning a championship, any championship, especially at the conference level.

That banner that is raised in the gym, or on that flagpole outside, shows that your team was the best that year. That team rose to the top and nobody can take that away.

It’s tangible. That banner stays up there forever, if not in the gym, then in the minds of the players who put it there.
The Pioneers earned a conference championship by beating two programs in their final two games that have toyed with them like a newborn puppy thoughout the years. There were times when Watauga used to be the closest thing to a bye for Freedom.

Now, after Watauga dumped the Patriots 27-8 two weeks ago, Freedom faces a two-game losing streak heading into next year against the Pioneers.

Same goes for A.C. Reynolds. The Rockets looked like they were in the NFL when playing against Watauga in the past. In fact, it took Watauga five years just to score a touchdown against the Rockets. Reynolds stumbled to a 2-4 NWC record in 2004, but had not lost a conference game in any of its other NWC seasons dating back to 2001 when it joined the league — until Friday night.

Now, Watauga is the only team to have won two in a row against the Rockets.

The most encouraging thing about this year’s victories over Freedom and Reynolds is how the Pioneers have won the games. There was no luck involved. There was no big rally in the end. In fact, the endings of both games were quite anti-climatic.

Instead, the Pioneers have lined up toe-to-toe with both teams and proved they are the better football team
The Pioneers dominated the line of scrimmage in both games, played better defense and their skill players made more plays.

This year, Watauga’s football team has earned everything it’s received.

Welcome to the top, guys.