The Imps, which last year saw their run of 27 straight conference championships end with a home loss to Panther Creek, are on their way to starting a new streak after a 30-27 defeat of Holly Springs.

Both squads entered the match without a conference loss. Holly Springs (14-2, 4-1 Tri-Nine) had already notched important Tri-Nine Conference victories against Panther Creek and Green Hope. Cary had done the same with a strong Middle Creek team.

Even though it was the last dual meet before Wake County schools enter holiday break, the celebration expressed by the Cary crowd after the clinching bout resembled a conference championship celebration.

"This is probably the best we've wrestled all year, and against a really, really tough team. I've got to hand it to Holly Springs, they are just tough through and through," Cary coach Taylor Cummings said. "This match was a big step towards getting (the conference championship) back. We still have to wrestle some tough teams ahead -- nothing's finished yet -- but this was a huge hurdle for us."

The night was full of close matches. Nine of the 14 weight classes were decided by six or fewer points, with four other bouts coming down to a pin and one more was a forfeit after the match had been clinched.

Holly Springs' Parker Ragsdale opened up the match with a pin at the 3:13 mark of the 113-pound match.

The Imps evened the score 6-6 after wins by Ryan Foran (4-1) at 120-pounds and Carlos Alvarez (7-2) at 126-pounds, but found themselves down six again after Holly Springs' Javon Johnson needed just 1:30 to pin his opponent in the 132-pound match.

Cary (8-0, 4-0) again won back-to-back matches, the first coming on John Blackwell's 11-9 victory at 138-pounds in a match that saw four lead changes in the final 45 seconds.

"John has a way to make me have a heartattack three times during his match," Cummings said. "A lot of it is him over-thinking things

Mark Mulligan followed with a pin at 2:36 to put Cary ahead 15-12, but Holly Springs pulled even halfway through the match as Jeff Cramer defeated Adam Kugler 14-8 in a battle between two ranked wrestlers.

After a 9-2 win by Holly Springs' Daniel Richardson, a pin at the 1:42 mark by Cary's Bo Mulligan and a 9-6 win by Holly Springs' Mitch Brady, the team score was knotted at 21 apiece with just four matches left.

But Cary eked out wins at the three heaviest weights.

195-pounder Franklin McNamara won 6-2, 220-pounder Travis Bach won 10-6 and heavyweight Corey Daniels won 6-3.

Daniels, who is ranked in the state among 220-pounders, was wrestling up against one of the state's top heavyweights in Holly Springs' Chris Sauls.

Daniels was giving up almost 65 pounds in the match, but stayed in the top position for the entire third round to preserve a win.

"(I was) getting the wrists and keeping forward pressure and keeping him down," Daniels said. "He almost caught me with a couple of rolls, but I did what my coaches told me and ran to the other side and kept him down."

The the match in hand, Cary forfeited the 103-pound class.

The two teams wrestled Lee County later that same night as it was a conference tri-match. Both Cary and Holly Springs defeated the 2-5 Yellow Jackets.