Wednesday, Sep. 01, 2010

Home streaks go on

Aside from being able to stick with a routine, it's hard to credit high school football stadiums with any sort of home field advantage.

Sure, some crowds are rowdier than others, but when you've got just two sets of stands and some pine trees, the noise doesn't reverberate like a college or NFL stadium.

Despite this, two local teams are on impressive home-win streaks.

Athens Drive (2-0) won its 11th straight home game on Friday with a 19-6 victory over Enloe. The Jaguars haven't lost at home since Oct. 10, 2008.

Meanwhile, conference foe Middle Creek won its 12th straight home game. The Mustangs haven't lost at home since Oct. 17, 2008.

During that stretch, Middle Creek has been 6-3 on the road. It's a larger drop-off for Athens, which is 3-6 on the road in that same time period.

The last time these two teams lost at home came to the same team - Fuquay-Varina - just one week apart.

Mustangs defense standing tall: A big reason Middle Creek (2-0) has won that many games over the past three seasons is its defense.

In two games, the Mustangs' defense has allowed 46 yards rushing on 57 carries - just 0.8 yards per carry.

Holly Springs collecting turnovers: It was hard to find a team more opportunistic on defense last year than the Holly Springs football team.

The Golden Hawks had three defensive touchdowns last year and excelled at forcing turnovers.

Through two games this year, Holly Springs (1-1) has already forced seven turnovers, including six interceptions.

The undefeated: More than half of the Tri-Nine remains unbeaten after two weeks.

Panther Creek, Middle Creek, Fuquay-Varina, Athens Drive and Cary are all 2-0.

At this point last year, only Fuquay could boast a 2-0 record.

The only other two undefeated teams in Wake County are Wake Forest-Rolesville and Millbrook.

This week's games: Three area games will be played on Thursday instead of Friday this week: Apex (1-1) at Leesville Road (1-1), Athens Drive (2-0) at Broughton (1-1) and Wilson's J.B. Hunt (2-0) at Holly Springs (1-1).

There are no head-to-head match-ups of undefeated teams this week.

But four of the Tri-Nine unbeatens, including Athens, will put their records on the line.

Middle Creek will host a desperate Garner (0-2) team. Cary will travel to 0-2 Sanderson. Fuquay-Varina (2-0) will play at 1-1 West Johnston.

Green Hope will host Durham Jordan, while Panther Creek will have its bye week.

Except for Panther Creek, this will be the last non-conference game for Tri-Nine teams.

Falcons, Cats win at Brittany: Fifty-four teams descended onto the J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex in Wilson over the weekend to take part in the Brittany.

"The Brittany" is short for The Brittany Willis Memorial Scholarship Soccer Showcase.

Teams from all over the state play each other in regular-season match-ups.

Green Hope and Panther Creek were both invited and each came away winners. Panther Creek won 4-1 over Wilmington Laney while Green Hope won 2-1 over Asheville Roberson.