The Four Oaks Bank Tri-Nine Challenge is back for another season, and this year it features six teams in the round-robin field.
Apex, Holly Springs and Panther Creek are this year's representatives from the Tri-Nine Conference.
*Update: due to the death of a student at Western Harnett High School Friday morning, the Eagles will not play any more tournament games this weekend. Below is the new schedule*
Western Harnett's boys basketball team should have clinched its first postseason bid since 2007 when the team defeated Fayetteville Douglas Byrd in the opening round of its conference tournament last week.
But the NCHSAA has said that the criteria used by the Cape Fear Valley Conference -- which ignored the third-game tiebreaker -- was incorrect.
According to the handbook, the game should have served as the tiebreaker, and Western should be playing in today's postseason. Tiebreaking procedures are mandatory.
The N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs are set to start this Tuesday. The first and second rounds will be played at one school site. With exception to the 1A bracket, the third and fourth rounds are held at a school on Thursday (the 1A only has one match that day for the regional title.
All four state championships Saturday between the East and West champion, also held at a school.
High school football games across Eastern North Carolina have been moved from Friday night to Thurday night this week because of the threat of high winds and heavy rains from Hurricane Irene. Also, The Brittany for the Boys soccer showcase in Wilson, which was scheduled for Friday and Saturday, has been canceled.
Most Triangle football teams still are scheduled for Friday night.
Among the Thursday night games are Durham Hillside at Fayetteville Smith, Pembroke Swett at Western Harnett, Smithfield-Selma at Nash Central, Midway at Princeton, and Erwin Triton at Harnett Central.
The Brittany for Boys is a soccer showcase that involves more than 50 teams.
Thursday night football games
Ashley @ South Brunswick, 7:30 p.m.
Camden @ Currituck, 6 p.m.
Croatan @ East Carteret, 7:30 p.m.
Currituck @ Camden, 6 p.m.
East Columbus @ East Bladen, 7:30 p.m.
East Duplin @ Northeastern, 7:30 p.m.
Farmville Central @ South Central, 7 p.m.
Fayetteville Christian @ St. Pauls, 7 p.m.
Havelock @ New Bern, 7 p.m.
Hillside @ E.E. Smith, 7 p.m.
Hobbton @ Fairmont, 7 p.m.
Hoggard @ Seventy-First, 7 p.m.
Jack Britt @ Lumberton, 7 p.m.
Jacksonville @ SW Onslow, 7 p.m.
Jones Senior @ James Kenan, 7 p.m.
Kinston @ South Lenoir, 7 p.m.
Lakewood @ North Duplin, 7 p.m.
Laney @ Union, 7:30 p.m.
Manteo @ Cape Hatteras, 6 p.m.
Mattamuskeet @ Dixon, 6 p.m.
Midway @ Princeton, 7 p.m.
Pamlico @ Northside-Pinetown, 7 p.m.
Pender @ Topsail, 7 p.m.
Pine Forest @ Gray's Creek, 7 p.m.
Pinecrest @ Overhills, 7:30 p.m.
Purnell Swett @ Western Harnett, 7:30 p.m.
Richlands @ White Oak, 7 p.m.
Rocky Mount @ Bertie, 7:30 p.m.
Scotland County @ New Hanover, 7:30 p.m.
Smithfield-Selma @ Nash Central, 7 p.m.
Spring Creek @ Lejeune, 6:30 p.m.
Swansboro @ West Carteret, 7:30 p.m.
Terry Sanford @ Douglas Byrd, 7 p.m.
Trask @ North Brunswick, 7 p.m.
Triton @ Harnett Central, 7 p.m.
Wallace-Rose Hill @ Clinton, 7 p.m.
West Bladen @ South Robeson, 7:30 p.m.
West Brunswick @ Socastee (SC), 7:30 p.m.
West Craven @ Northside-Jax, 7 p.m.
Westover @ Cape Fear, 7 p.m.
Whiteville @ West Columbus, 7 p.m.
After being one of the state's most high-scoring and decorated players over the past two seasons, Ariel Bursey knows what in-state school she will play for next year.
After one year as the school's varsity boys basketball coach, Jim Cole has resigned from his post at Western Harnett High School. The Eagles were 8-16 this season and finished fifth in the Cape Fear Valley Conference.
In 4-A: Wilmington Laney at West Johnston; Clayton at Fayetteville Britt; Garner at Scotland; Northern Durham travels to Holly Springs; Apex is at Wake Forest-Rolesville; Leesville Road is at Person; Riverside is at Fuquay-Varina
Wake Christian is the host of the 2011 Bulldogs First Pitch Softball tournament that begins on Thursday and concludes on Saturday.
A showdown of one-loss Millbrook and one-loss Green Hope leads the 4-A lineup, while a Chatham County rivalry is renewed in the 2-A ranks as Northwood visits Jordan-Matthews.
Winners of Friday's sectional final (third round) will advance to next week's East regionals in Fayetteville. See the rest of the NCHSAA girls basketball playoff match-ups in the East by clicking "Read More" below.
Durham Hillside plays at Green Hope in a NCHSAA 4-A East girls basketball game on Wednesday night. The girls basketball playoffs enter the second round on Wednesday night.
