APEX - Middle Creek quarterback David Salmon knew it was time to step aside for once. A junior, Salmon stood on the sideline to open the Mustangs' Senior Night and watched Sal Savarese, a senior who Salmon had to beat out for the starting job in the preseason.

He also knew when to step up.

Salmon entered the game in the second quarter with his Mustangs already up 6-0 thanks to Savarese and three other seniors who earned their first starts of the season. On Salmon's second play (first pass), he hit wide receiver Kevin Jones for 81 yards and Middle Creek never looked back on Friday, defeating Tri-Nine Conference foe Holly Springs 28-14 to stay in contention for a conference title.

"(Savarese) has worked just as hard as anyone on this team and he deserves to start, especially his last game at home," Salmon said.

Middle Creek (7-3, 6-1) went up early in the first quarter as running back Andrew Gardner -- another first-game starter -- scored on a 3-yard run. The three-play drive was set up after Middle Creek recovered a Golden Hawks fumble.

It was a sign of things to come for the Hawks (2-7, 2-5), who mustered just two first downs in the first half and failed to capitalize on two muffed punt returns by the Mustangs.

Salmon's bomb hit Jones in stride just as the speedy senior got past the corner back and just before the safety could get there.

"I was kind of bored, so I kind of wanted to get into the game a little bit," Salmon said of standing on the sideline. "I saw the corners walk up, and when you have a corner walking up on a kid like Kevin -- you're not automatically going there, but there's a pretty good chance that play is going to be open."

Middle Creek seemed like it was going to roll to an easy win after Naylaan Lopez took a screen pass from Salmon 45 yards in for a score. But with the clock running low on the first half, Holly Springs got just what they were looking for on a 54-yard touchdown pass from Brett Hudspeth to Joey Roach.

That score with just 42 seconds remaining in the second quarter brought the Golden Hawks to within two possessions. Middle Creek led 21-7 at halftime.

The second half had just two scores -- the first coming a 9-yard run from Lopez with 2:51 left in the third quarter.

Just as they did in the first half, the Hawks scored with just seconds showing on the clock, this time on a 16-yard Hudspeth-to-Roach connection with just four ticks remaining.

Middle Creek can tie Fuquay-Varina, which ended its regular season 7-1 in conference play, for the co-conference championship with a win next week at Apex. Because the Mustangs won the head-to-head game in a 48-47 two-overtime thriller, Middle Creek would have the top seed from the Tri-Nine.

"It's so tough to win our conference, and I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the familiarity everyone has with each other," Middle Creek coach Sean Crocker said. "Everybody plays everybody so differently and to their strengths."