Cary 33, Panther Creek 27 

For a match that would determine the regular-season champion in the Tri-Eight conference, Wednesday's Panther Creek versus Cary match sure didn't disappoint.

In what was one of the closest regular-season duals meets in years, the Imps held off the Catamounts 33-27. The win all but wraps up the 27th consecutive regular season conference championship for Cary (21-0, 6-0), which has just one more match remaining against a struggling Fuquay-Varina team.

Panther Creek (23-5, 5-1) had taken a 18-15 lead after Joe Morrison, the eighth wrestler in the 14-man lineup, won by pin over Jacob Brotzman. Cary came back with two minor decisions by Cordale Risk at 135 and Ronnie Winterton at 140.

Winterton's match was huge as it not only put the Imps ahead 21-18 with three matches left, but it came against Alex Branoft, who had beaten him three times in the past. 

Gabe Brotzman and Matthew Colvard stepped up next for Cary, each getting pins to lift Cary to a 33-21 lead. The Imps forfeited the final match. 

285-E. Palma (C) Forfeit 

Athens Drive 65, Middle Creek 10

The Athens Drive wrestling team sent off its four-year wrestlers in style on senior night, with a commanding 65-10 win over Middle Creek.

Eight Jaguar wrestlers scored pins as they routed the Mustangs. Next up for Athens will be Green Hope in two weeks. That match could decide third place in the conference.

Individual Results were:

Shane Goodchild (ADR) won 4-2 over Loflin (MDC)
Ryan Goodchild (ADR) won by fall :34 over Cook (MDC)
Drew Gintig (ADR) lost 15-1 to Loverde (MDC)
Sam Greenstein (ADR) won by fall 1:34 over Haynes (MDC)
Dan Martin (ADR) won by forfeit
Jeff Dion (ADR) won by fall 1:49 over Mattocks (MDC)
Cliff Griffin (ADR) won by fall :56 over Kamorek (MDC)
Kevin Chou (ADR) won by fall 4:49 over Stennet (MDC)
Ashton Rodgers (ADR) won by fall :40 over Hedgepeth (MDC)
Robert Christley (ADR) won by fall 1:06 over Brown (MDC)
Brandon Bellopatrick (ADR) won 7-6 over Wallaus (MDC)
Cyrus Kolar (ADR) won 16-1 TF over Salimor (MDC)
Bryan Houston (ADR) won by fall 4:10 over Gross (MDC)

Dan Alston (ADR) lost by fall 5:42 to Manning (MDC) 

APEX — Middle Creek 20, Athens Drive 0.

That was the score right before Athens finally scored on Tuesday night with 2:32 left in the first quarter. The Jaguars continued to fall behind even further, and trailed Middle Creek 29-8 after one.

But the No. 9 Jags clawed their way back into it, using a 19-4 third quarter and their first lead of the game at 44-43. However, the comeback bid seemed to take its toll on the Athens players' energy come the fourth quarter, as the Jaguars finally succumbed to the No. 10 Mustangs, 62-59.

"I'm proud of them because we could have just keeled over and they came back with some fight and showed a lot of heart and showed a lot of character," Athens coach Robert Clemons said. "It took a lot of energy to come back and to take the lead. It took a lot of energy and then when we needed some big shots to sustain it, we were worn out from coming back from that huge deficit."

The Panther Creek boys' basketball team got six of the 12 first-place votes and remains at the top of the state 4-A polls for another week.

Also for another week, Panther Creek (14-1) will be competing against a team in the top 10 on Friday. This time their opponent will be Middle Creek (13-2), who remained at No. 10 in the statewide poll.

Athens Drive (13-1) suffered their first loss of the year last Friday to Panther Creek and dropped to No. 8 in the polls.

On the girls' side, undefeated Apex (12-0) is now at No. 4 in the 4-A state polls.

After spending a few weeks at No. 1, Cary Christian has regained the top spot on the 2-A private school rankings after the old No. 1, Victory Christian, lost twice this past week. The Lady Knights are 16-2 this year. 

We've got just one change in this week's TCN boys' basketball rankings, and it's in the top third of our rankings.

In Friday's showdown between the Panther Creek and Athens Drive boys' basketball teams, a lot of things went on that won't make it into the game story anywhere. This is my way of sharing these items with you. I call it "Sights & Sounds." Enjoy.

Don't jump! Don't jump! Nooooooooo.... 

I would estimate Quentin Edmundson is just under six feet tall. Marques Oliver is right around 6-5. So why did Edmundson jump with Oliver when the latter was streaking down the court for a breakaway dunk? We may never know. But what we do know is Oliver, who had quite the head start on Edmundson, made the the shorter Edmundson, who picked up a foul on the play, pay with a posterizing slam. It was enough to make me jump out of my seat and go "ohhhhhhhhh! ohhhhhhh!" like those guys on the "And-1" series.

Hold on, you said what again?? 

 There are several ways to trash-talk these days. Almost none of them are original, and I get that. Those that are original are usually too vulgar to say very loudly, then again, if they're vulgar then they're not all that original anyway, but I digress.

So when the Panther Creek crowd started chanting "PAN-THER CRE-EK," after taking the lead in the third quarter, I wasn't surprised. And it wasn't shocking when the Athens Drive student section started chanting back "WE-CAN'T-HEAR-YOU." And I could've told you Panther Creek was going to answer with the "SCORE-BOARD, SCORE-BOARD" comeback.

But I could've never guessed what those Athens Drive students were going to say next. They had the temerity to start a "ATH-ENS FOOT-BALL" cheer.

Athens FOOTBALL? Really? Original, yes. Logical, no. I know I saw at least three football players on the frontline of the student section, but c'mon guys. Maybe you beat PC in football.

Whup-ti-do. In case you forgot, you went 4-8. It's not something I'd try to remind people of. Next time, chant "ATH-ENS GOL-F," O.K.? They're the ones who will be remembered 20 years from now when the banner is hanging in the gym.

Just like the lottery, you really don't have a chance

At halftime, several contestants got their shot at $500 (and only had to put in $2 to enter) if they could just hit two free throws, two lay-ups, a 3-pointer and a half-court shot.

Hard? Yes, but not impossible.

That is, until I saw how much time they give you — 21 seconds. Needless to say, only one contestant even got as far as to attempt a 3-pointer.

Maybe next time at Athens I'll enter that contest. But I'll make sure to shoot the 3-pointer first, and move closer in. If I can even get to the point where I can get off a half-court shot, I'll call it a success.

Tonight's Tri-Eight game will feature two of the best teams in the state as Panther Creek and Athens Drive do battle at 7:30 p.m. The one-loss Catamounts (13-1) are ranked No. 1 in the state and the Jaguars remain undefeated at 13-0 and are No. 5.

It should be a good one, as Athens Drive already began pre-selling tickets to students on Thursday.

"There's a lot of excitement around the school," Jaguars coach Robert Clemmons said. "We're expecting a large crowd and a real electric atmosphere there."

Here are four questions that will also be the keys going into tonight's game:

Panther Creek is No. 1 in the state on the 4-A level.

Athens Drive is No. 5 and Middle Creek is No. 10, which means we're heading for some incredible showdowns this season between those three, but before we can get to the first one of those this Friday, we had games to play tonight.

Could Panther Creek hold on and could undefeated Athens Drive avoid upset before these two titans play each other this Friday?

Here are tonight's scores from around the Tri-Eight conference, and how the standings are holding up.

Panther Creek 52, Apex 43

Earnest Ross stays hot for the Catamounts, leading all scorers with 25 points. Weston Murphy and Connor Belicic each chip in 13 for the losing Cougars, who dropped to 6-7 overall. I think the fact Murphy got double-digits speaks volumes about how good/underrated he is. Panther Creek has made it a recent habit of embarrassing the best player on the opposing team, holding Melvin Tabb to four points and Stan Okoye to six.

Athens Drive 55, Lee County 38

The Jaguars are now 13-0! And they'll host Panther Creek this Friday (better get there early if you want a seat folks!) in what'll be a monumental match-up.  Lee County scored two — that's right — two first-quarter points. Josh Davis (what a player he is), had 29 points for Athens in the big win.

Middle Creek 79, Fuquay-Varina 45

The area's high-watermark has been set for single-game points scored, as Tom Tankelewicz dropped a whopping 37 points on the Bengals Tuesday night. Garrius Adams had 24 himself, and the Mustangs crushed Fuquay from beginning-to-end, leading 57-17 at half. Middle Creek is now 12-2 overall and 4-0 in Tri-Eight play.

Green Hope 69, Cary 65

I've been telling people that neither Green Hope nor Cary are as bad as their records indicate, and I think this game proves my point. Cary had enough to mount a 11-point lead, and Green Hope had enough firepower to overcome it. Shawn Shaffer had 22 for the Falcons in the win, which they desperately needed after starting out 0-4 in conference. 

 Tri-Eight Standings

Athens Drive 4-0 13-0

Panther Creek 4-0 12-1

Middle Creek 4-0 12-2

Apex  1-3 6-7

Fuquay-Varina 1-3 3-10

Cary 1-3 1-12

Lee County 1-4 4-8

Green Hope 1-4 5-10

Keep in mind this Friday Panther Creek (13-1, 4-0) will head to Athens Drive (13-0, 4-0). I'm telling you, get your seat early! Games like this one (No. 1 vs No. 5 in the state) don't happen in this area every year, so you'd better catch the match-up while you still can. Trust me. We'll have more on that game later today.

 Other area boys' scores:

Cary Christian 57, Friendship Christian 46

Cary Academy 60, Wake Christian 51

Holly Springs 71, SE Raleigh 69 

Wachovia Bank, N.A., along with the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, today announced the standings for fall sports in the Wachovia Cup competitions for the 2008-2009 sports season.

It's not a shock that Apex Mayor Keith Weatherly took shots at Wake's diversity policy at Monday's reassignment hearing.

But what about Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht? As noted in today's article, Weinbrecht criticized the diversity policy while speaking on behalf of the parents trying to avoid being reassigned from Apex High to Athens Drive High.

Weinbrecht, normally a strong supporter of the school system, prefaced his remarks to the school board. He said that he has tried to work as a lobbyist rather than speak out publicly.