The Bengals, who had lost to Cary earlier in the season, faced the Imps again in a key Tri-Nine Conference showdown that could ultimately end up having a bearing on playoff positioning.

Fuquay-Varina entered the rematch just one game ahead of the Imps in the conference standings, with both teams looking up at Green Hope, the top ranked team in the state, and Apex.

On Wednesday, the Bengals found themselves up by a goal late in the first half, but every time they tried to push the lead to two the Cary defense came through and made a big stop.

Finally, with less than 35 seconds before intermission, Bengal senior Jared Bender nailed a corner kick, which teammate Andrew Starnes booted towards the top part of the Cary goal.

Cary keeper Danny Alecio, who stopped 11 shots on the night, couldn’t reach this well-placed ball as it hit the crossbar and dropped down.

Luckily for the Bengals, senior Adrian Gonzales was in perfect position to drop the rebound into the net for a 3-1 Fuquay-Varina halftime lead. The Bengal defense made that score hold up, winning 3-1 to get to 12-4-1 overall and 7-4 in the conference.

“This was a big win to keep our momentum going,” said Bender. “We have to keep our spirits up as we head down the last few weeks of the regular season.”

Bender’s head coach, James Mountford, was proud of his team’s effort.

“Cary is a sound team defensively,” Mountford said. “When you have opportunities against this team you need to finish. We’re scoring a lot more goals this year than last, and we are finishing a lot of our opportunities.

“That goal before halftime by Adrian was huge, because it allowed us to be more comfortable in the second half.”

Mountford was also pleased with the play of goalkeepers Zach Sherman and Adam Lawrence, who combined for 13 saves, and with senior defenseman Cole Schwietering, who he described as the anchor to the Bengal defense and a terrific leader.

The Bengals scored the game’s first two goals. Andrew Sotak found the net with an assist from Brandon Starling in the 11th minute, and then nine minutes later Gonzales scored his first goal with an assist from Starnes.

Cary (6-9, 5-6) recovered in the 23rd minute when sophomore Caleb Duvernay scored from close range to trim the Fuquay-Varina lead to 2-1.

The Imps, who also lost a hard fought 1-0 decision to Apex earlier in the week, are still in position to make a run for the playoffs as the final weeks of the regular season approach.