APEX-The most important thing in playoff football is the advancement - winning the game. Without a win, there is no next game or a chance to excel again.

Middle Creek earned both of those things Monday night with a 38-27 victory over Smithfield-Selma in the opening round of the 4-A playoffs.

The win puts the Mustangs (5-7) in the best of positions heading into Friday night's second round trip to meet Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference champion Southeast Raleigh (10-2).

Much like the Spartans it slayed on Monday, the Bulldogs feature plenty of speed and potential Division I college talent.

"When you talk about a team that's full of athletes, Southeast Raleigh is that," said Middle Creek coach Sean Crocker. "We were able to get some good preparation for a game like that tonight because SSS is a team with at least two D-I guys and probably another two or three who may be that type of college player.

"Southeast is loaded with those guys so it's going to be a very big challenge for us."

Middle Creek had to navigate an early challenge on Monday night to down a SSS squad led by former Mustang football boss Anthony Barbour. The Spartans rolled ahead 12-0 in the game's first 100 seconds of play but Middle Creek scored 38 of the game's final 55 points to claim their ticket to the second round.

"We've been trying to validate the kinds of things we do in practice all season," Crocker said. "And translate those things out onto the game field. We did that tonight. This is a huge win for our program."

Sophomore quarterback Garrett Leatham bounced back from an early interception that set up SSS's second quick score. Leatham connected with Tre Nesbitt on a 27-yard pass for the Mustangs' first score, then he hit Marvin Mackey on a 13-yarder with 41.2 seconds to play in the first quarter and the huge early deficit was a distant memory.

"There were still like 10 minutes to go in the first half when we fell behind," Crocker said. "The whole game was ahead of us, we just had to keep playing. We made some plays and were able to get the lead before the end of the quarter."

Leatham continued to find holes in the Spartan defense in the second quarter. He found junior Dexter Montague open for two scores, covering 17 and eight yards, respectively, giving the Creek a 28-12 lead at the break. The Middle Creek quarterback was 15-of-23 passing for 219 yards, the four TDs and two interceptions in the opening 24 minutes of play.

"He made some good plays and some bad ones," Crocker said of his sophomore quarterback. "But that's what you'll get with a young quarterback. He's a 15- 16-year old kid playing in his first playoff game. He had a tough start but settled down and did a great job of leading our offense."

Tre Nesbit led Middle Creek's receiving corps with 113 yards receiving on nine catches. SSS closed to within 28-19 on a 1-yard run by Justin Dixon in the third quarter but couldn't get anything else going against Middle Creek until a comeback was a real longshot at best.

The Spartans, still down 11 with 6:05 to play tried to convert a fourth-and-16 near midfield but Middle Creek came up with a sack to end the drive. Matt Frongello added a field goal to up the lead to 11 with 2:33 to play. The two squads exchanged TDs in the closing 90 seconds. Stephen Sladek rumbled in for a 16-yard Middle Creek score with 1:23 to play, then Smithfield-Selma's Josh Snead ran the ensuing kick off back 70 yards for a score.

"They had a great game plan," Barbour said. "They spread us out with their offense and made our skill guys on defense, who carry the ball for us on offense, chase them around the field.

"We got tired real fast doing that."

Middle Creek ran 60 plays on the night.

Smithfield-Selma got its quick 12-0 lead in the first 100 seconds of play. North Carolina recruit D.J. Bunn raced around the end on the second play of the game for a 79-yard touchdown run.

On the second play of the Mustangs' first drive of the game, Smithfield-Selma's Junior Bryant stepped in front of a quick pass and returned it to the Middle Creek 7-yard line. Dixon, another UNC recruit, jogged in for a TD on the next play, putting SSS up 12-0 with 10:22 to play in the first quarter.

From there, however, the Mustang defense controlled the Spartans' ground attack. SSS couldn't find the edge on their dangerous jet sweep play with the speedy Bunn and Josh Snead, a member of South Johnston's state championship-winning 4x100 relay team last spring.

"That play will destroy you," Crocker said of the jet sweep. "You have to get somebody in position to close down the edge and then have guys step up and be ready to make plays."

SSS 12 0 7 8 - 27 MID 14 14 0 10 - 38 SSS MID Rushes-Yards 37-159 28-60 Comp-Att-Yards 3-13-56 20-32-232

First Quarter SSS-D.J. Bunn 79 run (run failed); SSS-J. Dixon 7 run (run failed); MID-T. Nesbit 27 pass from G. Leatham (M. Frongello kick); MID-M. Mackey 13 pass from G. Leatham (M. Frongello kick). Second Quarter MID-D. Montague 17 pass from G. Leatham (M. Frongello kick); MID-D. Montague 8 pass from G. Leatham (M. Frongello kick). Third Quarter SSS-J. Dixon 2 run (H. Johnson kick); Fourth Quarter MID-M. Frongello 24 FG: MID-S. Sladek 16 run (M. Frongello kick); SSS-J. Snead 70 kick off return (A. Rouse run).

Rushing: SSS-D.J. Bunn 6-88, J. Dixon 15-76, J. Jones 3-7, A. Rouse 4-(-5), D. Parker 4-3, J. Snead 5-(-6); MID-S. Sladek 18-84, D. Render 2-1, J. Nesbit 5-(-2), G. Leatham 3-(-23). Passing: SSS-A. Rouse 3-11-56-1; MID-G. Leatham 20-32-232-2. Receiving: SSS-A. Greene 2-55, J. Dixon 1-1; MID-T. Nesbit 9-113, D. Gaines 2-39, M. Mackey 3-22, S. Sladek 2-18, D. Montague 3-28.