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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

Over the past two seasons, Avery Yount made a number of highlight-reel saves as the goalie for Davie girls soccer.

• During a 0-0 tie with North Davidson in March of 2022, coach Corbin Kopetzky said: “(Yount had) one of the most beautiful saves I’ve ever seen in person.”

• In a 1-1 tie with Grimsley in March of 2022, Yount had “the nicest save I’ve ever seen Avery have. She made a diving save and punched it over the bar.”

• After a 1-0 overtime win against Mt. Tabor in May of 2022, Kopetzky said: “Holy cow. Avery might have played the best game I’ve ever watched her play. She made some crazy saves.”

• And during a 1-0 loss to Mt. Tabor last March, Kopetzky said: “I feel like I’ve said this time and time again, but it’s the best save that she’s made. It went around the bar. This one was crazy.”

After putting on several goalkeeping clinics for the War Eagles, Yount was rewarded by making the 75th North Carolina Coaches Association East-West All-Star Game. She played for the West.

“It’s an honor to be able to represent Davie in the all-star game,” Yount said. “It finally shows that all the hard work I have put in for the past few years has finally paid off. It was only a short time ago that I was a freshman who took her first steps on a high school field. Now as a senior, I get to compete with the best in the state. These are all talented girls and I expect that being able to be around each other and train together will be the most rewarding experience. It’s also a nice way to cap off my high school career.”

Yount had every right to be incredibly proud. She became the first Davie soccer player – male or female – to play in the East-West Game, she became the first Davie female to play in any East-West Game in 39 years and she became the third Davie female of all time to play in an East-West All-Star game. The other two Davie females to make it were basketball stars Jill Amos and Angie Browder in 1980 and 1984, respectively.

“I had no idea (about making Davie history),” Yount said. “When I looked at the (East-West) program, it did make me wonder about that. But I didn’t know until after the game when I talked to my coaches.

“I never would have thought that I would have gotten the opportunity to play in this game nor have my name carry this much weight in Davie’s history. It’s a surreal feeling to say you’re an all-star, but to say you were the first is a unique feeling that is indescribable.”

The game was held at Bryan Park’s MacPherson Stadium in Browns Summit on July 18. The East beat the West 6-2. Yount and Hibriten’s Rylee Conrad split time at goalie, and Yount turned in two saves. Three of the West’s 16 players were from the Central Piedmont Conference, including West Forsyth’s Raegan Williams and Kate Schaffer. The West was coached by Rockingham County’s Tim Buck.

Yount was the varsity goalie for three years. She racked up a whopping 139 saves as a sophomore. Davie’s defense was considerably stronger the next year and Yount’s saves tally dropped to 67 in 2022. Davie fielded another stingy defense in 2023 and Yount had 67 saves again.

Yount is also a star in the classroom. She was a member of the National Honor Society. She plans to major in architecture at Clemson.

“She’s very determined, hard-working and selfless – she’s going to put others before herself,” said Kopetzky, the second-year head coach who was a Davie assistant during Yount’s sophomore year. “And she was constantly wanting to get better. She was a captain this year for us. She was voted by her peers for that. I think she exemplified what that position is.”

Davie’s East-West All-Stars

John Grimes (football, 1961)

Ed Bowles (football, 1962)

Ronnie Spry (football, 1966)

Edgar Osborne (football, 1967)

Randall Ward (football, 1967)

Fred Bailey (football, 1968)

Allan Barger (football, 1970)

James “Jingles” Ijames (basketball, 1970)

Dwayne Grant (basketball, 1977)

Jill Amos (basketball, 1980)

Angie Browder (basketball, 1984)

Chris Jacobs (football, 1984)

Andre Frost (football, 1989)

Duane Phillips (basketball, 2000)

Sam Stovall (football, 2003)

Ryan Boehm (football, 2005)

ReShaun Parks (football, 2006)

Garrett Benge (football, 2008)

Drew Absher (basketball, 2009)

James Mayfield (football, 2009)

Zach Long (football, 2010)

Shannon Dillard (basketball, 2012)

Nate Jones (basketball, 2012)

Adam Smith (football, 2012)

Ben Ellis (football, 2016)

James Boyle (football, 2017)

Chris Reynolds (football, 2017)

Cody Hendrix (football, 2018)

Kristian Lyons (football, 2021)

Avery Taylor (football, 2021)

Willie Purvis (football, 2023)

Brodie Smith (football, 2023)

Avery Yount (soccer, 2023)