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

In what was one of the closest regular-season duals meets that Cary had seen 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.

"I knew from the first tournament we saw [Panther Creek] down in Fayetteville and they took second to us I said 'That's a lineup that could beat us.' And you could see that they could've," Cary coach Jerry Winterton said.

"We dodged a big bullet there. We've won the conference title since 1982 and I know these kids don't have a clue what that means but a couple things go their way, they have us."

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 two wrestlers who were bumped up a weight class before the match, Cordale Risk at 135 and Jerry's son, Ronnie Winterton, at 140.

"As it was coming down towards the end the hero really was my son. I don't like to throw praise his way, but I don't care what kid it was out there, you beat a kid that beat him three times last year and he's up a weight," Jerry said. "If he doesn't beat that kid I don't know what happens in this match."

Ronnie's match was huge as it not only put the Imps ahead 21-18 with four weight classes left to wrestle, but it came against Alex Branoff, who had beaten Ronnie three times in the past and was ranked No. 6 in the state.

"I wasn't thinking about my past losses," Ronnie said. "I was just thinking I've grown up with this program, I've seen all the things, I just didn't want to be a part of the program that didn't win conference as usual."

Panther Creek coach Jon Armfield agreed that Branoff's defeat had a profound impact on the rest of the match, adding that Kevin Puente's overtime win over Tyler Bailey at 215 was another "heartbreaker."

"Alex Branoft had a close match against Winterton. He's beat him before and we were really wanting him to win that," Armfield said. "That's another match that we won last year that we lost this year. If we had won those two right there, it would've been a lot closer."

David Alecio lost the following match at 145 pounds by the 13-7 minor decision — but Cary still had two heavy hitters on deck.

Senior Gabe Brotzman, ranked No. 1 in the state at 152 pounds, and junior Matthew Colvard, ranked No. 2 at 160, each scored pins to lift Cary to a 33-21 lead. With the match in hand, the Imps forfeited the final match at 171 pounds.

"I always count on my top five guys to win and I believe all five of them did," Jerry said. 'The heroes were Ronnie and Kevin Puentes at 215. Those two wins along with those five enabled us to tie it up."

Each team won in seven of the 14 weight classes. Adding to the list of Cary winners were No. 1 Ben Creed at 103 pounds (pin at 4:33) and No. 1 heavyweight Eloheim Palma (by forfeit).

Panther Creek got three of its wins from its ranked wrestlers as No. 9 Sheridan Rucker started off the match with a 7-2 win at 189 pounds and No. 8 Matt Elliot won 8-5 at 112.

"I told my team what I expected out of each weight class and for the most part everybody did their job. We lost a couple of heartbreakers but I'm proud of them," Armfield said.

Also collecting wins for the Catamounts were Ben Elliott (119), Scott Gura (125) and Jamey Drennen (171).

"I think it's been a benefit for us because we know we're not invincible and that makes us just want to work harder," Ronnie said, when discussing the night's close match.

With both teams finding success this year, it isn't a stretch to think that they might meet again in the postseason. If that were to happen, Armfield said it's something his Catamounts would welcome. "There's always next year and we'll see the same wrestlers at regionals, so we'll try to get them back there," Armfield said. "And at the conference tournament, we'll try to do some damage there. This isn't the last time we'll see them, and we'll definitely be looking forward to this dual meet next year ... Who knows? We may see them in the state tournament."

105-B. Creed (C) Pin 4:33 S. Neupane (PC)

114-M. Elliot (PC) Dec 8-5 CJ Bean (C)

121-B. Elliot (PC) Dec 7-6 OT H. Rosenbaum (C) 127-S. Guru (PC) Dec. 5-0 C. Villari (C)

132-J. Morrison (PC) Pin 2:46 J. Brotzman (C)

137-C. Risk (C) Dec. 6-1 P. Santoro (PC)

142-R. Winterton (C) Dec.5-4 A. Branoff (PC)

147-D. Kavorch (PC) Dec. 12-7 D. Alecio (C)

154-G. Brotzman (C) Pin :59 K. Nelson (PC)

162-M. Colvard (C) Pin 3:49 T. Ferrell (PC)

171-J. Dennan (PC) Forfeit

191-S. Rucker (PC) Dec. 7-2 C. Hare (C)

217-K. Puente (C) Dec. 6-4 OT T. Bailey (PC)

285-E. Palma (C) Forfeit