By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Off a centering pass from the left side by Gavin Lapinski, Watauga striker Evan Mawhinney foot-flicked a shot into the right corner of the Ardrey Kell-defended net in the 11th minute of play on Sept. 17, giving the Pioneers an early lead. To the delight of a raucous, early autumn crowd at Jack Groce Stadium, Mawhinney added a second goal in the second half — and Watauga played stellar defense to secure a 2-1 win over the Charlotte-based Knights.
Ardrey Kell evened things up with barely 10 seconds remaining in the first half on a long pass from midfield to the center, followed and punched in by striker Matthew Kulyak, just under the outstretched arms of a diving Soloman Triplett, the Pioneer goalkeeper.
Mawhinney punched in his second goal in the 13th minute of the second half, taking advantage of a header assist from Asher Hampton to recapture the lead for the host Pioneers. Hampton capitalized on a long, downfield pass, advancing the ball by heading it backwards to a well-positioned Mawhinney.
The two non-conference adversaries battled mostly in the middle third of the field for the rest of the second half. Ardrey Kell threatened briefly with a long free kick from 37 yards out to in front of the goal, but Triplett was able to smother any semblance of attack on the loose ball.
Watauga had a good look at goal in the 24th minute of the second half when Lipinski slipped a pass to the left side to an on-rushing Hampton, but the side judge determined that he was offsides.
Watauga’s corner kick in the 29th minute was all but wasted, landing far out from the posts and secured by the Knights’ defense.
A nifty defensive play by Pioneer backline stalwart Noah Van Werkhoven turned away a Knights threat in the attacking right corner with just over eight minutes remaining.
The Pioneers rebuffed an Ardrey Kell threat a few minutes later, turning the Knights’ attack in the right corner into a Pioneer counterattack. Minutes later, a long shot off the foot of Quincy Honeycutt was slapped over the crossbar by the Ardrey Kell goalkeeper for a dramatic save, but it also left him writhing in pain. He remained on the ground in front of his net for several minutes until eventually getting to his feet to help defend what turned out to be two consecutive corner kicks by the Pioneers, both turned away by the Knights.
Mawhinney came close to having a “hat trick,” his third scoring opportunity coming with a break down the left side but it was ultimately squashed by the Ardrey Kell defense.
If this match had any real drama, it seemed to come in the final two minutes.
The Knights were awarded a penalty kick with 1:36 to go when a yellow card was flashed by the referee for alleged dangerous play inside the penalty box by Watauga’s Van Werkhoven. After conferring with his side judge, the referee jogged to the Watauga sideline to offer an explanation to head coach Josh Honeycutt, but apparently that didn’t go too well when the official turned back not once, but twice to flash yellow cards at the coach.
After the lengthy delay, Watauga’s goalkeeper, Triplett, turned away the penalty shot to preserve the Pioneer lead.
The drama wasn’t quite over, however, when Ardrey Kell was awarded a free kick from 23 yards out on the right side, roughly 15 yards from the sideline. With Watauga showing a 2-man wall, the Ardrey Kell kicker curled the ball to the left side, where it was eventually cleared by the Pioneers and the well-contested match appeared to tick to an end.
Inexplicably, the official put two seconds back on the clock and awarded a free kick to Ardrey Kell from near midfield, quite some distance from where the action was occurring in the apparent final seconds, in the attacking left corner. When the free kick was smothered by Watauga, he had another two seconds put back on the clock for yet another free kick attempt, which also failed.
Mercifully, for the Pioneer faithful, that was the end of the unusual finish to an otherwise well-contested match between longtime non-conference, friendly archrivals.
Next up for Watauga (5-3-3) is a final non-conference matchup on Sept. 22 against 8A power, Mallard Creek, in Jack Groce Stadium. Two days later, Sept. 24, the Pioneers open Northwestern Conference play at Freedom, in Morganton.
