The Alexander Central High women's golf team nailed down the Northwestern 3A/4A Conference championship Monday afternoon in Granite Falls at the Orchard Hill Golf Club. The Cougars, who own

a 98-shot lead with the final match of the regular-season scheduled for today, ironically, on their home course at the Brushy Mountain Golf Club in Taylorsville.
Watauga and South Caldwell finished in a second place tie for second place with identical team scores of 138. The Spartans own a 15-shot advantage on WHS for second place in the NW3A/4A, and the No.1 seed among the Class 4A schools in league play. Hickory finished fourth with a 152.
Savanna Wood, the defending champion in the NW3A/4A, now finds herself ten shots off the lead. Abbey Hartsell of the Cougars paced the field with a 36; Wood finished four shots back with a 40. Overall, Hartsell leads the standings with a 143; Wood has a 153.
Tasha Wilson Rebekah Shoemake each had a 49 for the Pioneers. Mary Seramur had a 50; Heather Ostwalt had a 56.

     Team                                        Score     Total
Alexander Central             487 121 608
South Caldwell                 568 138 706
Watauga                           583 138 721
St. Stephens                     631 167 798
Hickory                              635 152 787

1.) Abbey Hartsell, ACHS  36-143
2.) Savanna Wood, WHS  40-153
3.) Patricia Thompson, SCHS 44
4.) Macey Profitt, SCHS 44

WHS

Tasha Wilson 49
Rebekah Shoemake 49
Mary Seramur 50
Heather Ostwalt 56

WHS SOCCER DEFEATS COUGARS

The Watauga High men's soccer team bounced back from last week's disappointing loss at Hickory with a 3-1 win against Alexander Central at Jack Groce Stadium Monday night. The Pioneers (13-2-3 overall; 5-1-2 Northwestern 3A/4A Conference) remain in the chase for first place in the NW3A/4A Conference. But they still trail Hickory (19-1; 8-1) in the standings. The Red Tornaodes defeated South Caldwell 9-0 Monday night.
WHS, which trailed 1-0 three minutes into the game, came charging back with three unanswered goals to win the match. Alex Parsons tied the game with a goal at the eight-minute mark of the first half; Justin Hall put the Pioneers on top with a goal ten minutes later.
Tucker Chasteen picked up an assist on both of those goals. Cam Linnville added an insurance goal when he scored on a header ball off a corner kick at the 30-minute mark of the first half. Logan Raichle had the assist.
"It was a nice win," said WHS coach Woody McKay. "We still have a chance at the conference title, but we need some help. In the meantime, we have to take care of ourselves. We can't afford a letdown."
The Pioneers travel to South Caldwell Wednesday night before they return home to play Hibriten on Senior Night next Monday night. WHS finishes the season with St. Stephens. Hickory, on the other hand, has games remaining with Fred T. Foard, St. Stephens and Hibriten.

 WHS won the JV match, 4-0. Jakie Irwin scored three times to pace the Pioneers.