HOLLY SPRINGS — There was certainly some correlation between Panther Creek's hellacious early season schedule, which included five of the state's top seven 4-A schools, and the Catamounts' 1-5-1 start.

It was somewhat of a relief to Panther Creek players when the team got back in the win column on Wednesday night with an impressive 3-1 road win over Holly Springs.

"It's great to come out and get a win in conference. We have a very deep conference. We've got 7-8 teams that can beat anybody. We definitely schedule tough games," PC coach Todd Schuler said. "It wasn't pretty at times out here but it was great to gut it out and earn a victory."

Panther Creek (2-5-1, 1-2) got on the board first with a blistering shot from Giampier Oblach at the 30-minute mark. At first glance, it appeared as if Oblach's shot had gone wide, but the ball had rolled through a hole in the front corner of the netting.

After two saves by Catamount goalkeeper Chris Herd, the Golden Hawks (3-3-1, 1-2-1) answered with a goal from junior co-captain B.J. Jones with 18 minutes left in the first period.

Herd saved two more shots before the end of the half, successfully defending shots from the Golden Hawks' Oscar Villalta and Daniel Doheny.

"At halftime we really focused on getting back to basics — keeping us compact defensively, communicate, press them in groups of three to four and really get some more pressure to the ball," Schuler said.

Two long-range shots from Panther Creek put the game away in the second half. After Holly Springs switched goalkeepers, the Catamounts' Kyle Peterson found the back of the net from 30 yards out to put the Catamounts on top with 18:20 remaining.

"It really shows how your 'D' is playing," Holly Springs senior Nick Hohns said. "If you're going to get beat, that's the way you want to be scored on. Not on a bad defensive play, just on a nice, long shot. There's nothing you can do with that. Those were nice shots."

With 12:06, PC's Andrew Shingleton fired in a shot with a defender on him from almost the same spot to all but seal the match.

"We definitely had to put the game away. I was dribbling up there, found the opportunity and took it," Shingleton said.

Holly Springs didn't create the same chances in the second half as it had in the first, laboring to get the ball into the front third of the field.

"We dropped the forward back to the midfield, so we had one forward against four defenders so we had no attack, so that's how our attack dropped off," Jones said.

Golden Hawks players said their first year in the Tri-Nine Conference has been challenging thus far, and only looked to get harder with Fuquay-Varina, Apex and Green Hope still left to play twice.

"It's a lot, but I think our team stepped it up a lot," Hawks junior Landon Lisenby said. "The conference is harder but I think we'll do well in it."