Up 10-7 with only four minutes left, Cary’s defense had pinned Panther Creek deep in its own territory — as it had for much of the game — on a fourth and long.

But Panther Creek coach Wayne Bragg reached into his bag of tricks, pulling out a double pass that had Graham Love finding receiver Stephen Womble for a 36-yard bomb, setting the Catamounts up for a possible go-ahead score.

“We lost to Athens [Drive] earlier in the year on a double pass,” Kolstad said. “And I thought that was going to happen again tonight.”

But the Imps defense stood strong, preventing a late Panther Creek rally and preserving the 10-7 win. “I thought our defense bent but didn’t break too much,” Kolstad said. “We gave up some bigger runs, but overall we stopped them when we needed to.”

Most of those runs came from Panther Creek running back Kel Jackson, who tallied 144 yards on the ground. Jackson and the Catamount offense controlled the game for much of the first half, dominating time of possession — particularly on a nine-minute touchdown drive to start the game.

“Coach [Bragg] had a great game plan against us, they really came after us,” Kolstad said. “It was just kind of a strange night — them controlling the ball the way they did.”

In the second half, field position ultimately doomed the Catamounts. Panther Creek could not get out of its own side of the field, other than the first drive, as the Cary defense stood strong and the punters pinned Panther Creek back again and again.

As they have all season, the Imps churned it out on the ground. Running backs Andrew Hill and Ralph Chapman combined for 139 rushing yards.