CARY — It was Senior Night at Panther Creek on Wednesday and the seniors certainly went out in style in their final home wrestling match. Four of the six seniors in the lineup won to help push the Catamounts past Athens Drive 49-18.

With the school only in its third year of existence, the night took on added emphasis given the fact it was honoring its first graduating class.

"It was nice this year for us to have Senior Night," Panther Creek coach Jon Armfield said. "We've had to see other schools do it in years before, but this year we got to do it and I think our kids really enjoyed it. And the match went well for us, so that made it that much better."

Senior Matt Elliott got it started at 112 pounds with a pin just nine seconds into the match to give the Catamounts an early 6-0 lead. Obviously pleased with the results of his match, Elliott, who remains unbeaten in the conference, reflected on his emotions following the final home match of his high school career.

"It really didn't hit me until right after the match," he said. "It's hard to believe I won't have anymore home matches. But we've still got a lot more wrestling to do and I'm focused on my goal of qualifying for the state tournament this year. Last year I was close but didn't quite make it."

Fellow senior Manrique Miranda followed Elliott's quick pin with one of his own at 119 pounds, before Alex Branoff (140) and Nolan Carpenter (215) picked up wins in their home finales as well.

The Jaguars took home wins in four of the 14 weight classes – three of which came down to the final two minutes. Samuel Greenstein slipped past Scott Gura 6-2 at 125 pounds, Ashton Rogers scored Athens' only pin at 152 in the third period and Robert Christley won a tight one 6-3 over Todd Ferrell at 160. Daniel Alston won a forfeit at 285 to close out the Jaguars' scoring.

"Panther Creek's tough as nails," Athens coach Mike Wood said. "They work really hard. Fortunately for us, we were able to pull out a few of those close ones, but we lost a few we could've won, too. But I guess you win some and you lose some."

In a dual match that saw little drama in way of the team score, the 135-pound match between Panther Creek's Patrick Santoro and the Jags' Daniel Martin provided plenty of suspense on its own.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the final period, Martin caught a break when Santoro was penalized for pulling on his singlet. The penalty tied the score at one, where it remained until Santoro was finally able to take Martin down and score the final two points of the match.

"We were both gassed," Santoro said. "We both had to get a takedown to win and I was the one that ended up getting it."

According to Santoro, he and Martin are both ranked in the top 15 in the state at 135 pounds – sixth and 11th respectively. Armfield said in a match that even, it simply boils down to a wrestler's will to win.

"Patrick handled himself well," Armfield said. "He wrestled very smart and it came down to who worked the hardest in the third period. That was the difference in the match. Pat just wanted it more."

Joe Morrison (130), Daniel Kauvlich (145), Jeremy Drennen (171), Sheridan Rucker (189) and Sausat Neopane (103) rounded out the winners for the Catamounts, who were victorious over Athens for the second time in less than a week. With the final stretch of the season now in sight, Armfield said he's pleased with the way his team is progressing, but was quick to point out its need for improvement.

"Senior Night kind of snuck on us, because we've got so much more wrestling to go," he said. "And we've still got a lot of work to do. We definitely want to finish strong."

The Catamounts' win sets up a battle for first place in the Tri-Eight next Wednesday, when Panther Creek travels to Cary. Both teams are undefeated in the conference.