Top N&O teams in different brackets

There will be no area dream matchup in the N.C. High School Athletic Association football playoffs between Harnett Central, No. 1 in The N&O rankings, and No. 2 Wake Forest-Rolesville.

Wake Forest-Rolesville, which has an enrollment of 1,951, will be in the NCHSAA's 4-AA bracket when the state playoffs begin Nov. 13, while Harnett Central, with 1,414 students, will be in the 4-A bracket.

Southern Durham, ranked No. 3, also will be in the 4-A bracket.

"When some of the kids saw the enrollment numbers and realized we wouldn't have the opportunity to play Harnett Central or Southern Durham, they were a little disappointed," Wake Forest-Rolesville coach Reggie Lucas said.

"That lasted just a second. Our kids are excited to be going to the playoffs in a couple of weeks and to have the chance to play Leesville Road on this Friday night in our last regular-season game."

The NCHSAA plans to have a draft of the football brackets on its Web site by 4 p.m. Saturday. Coaches will have the opportunity to change any record or conference finish that was reported incorrectly to the NCHSAA. After any changes, the official bracket will be posted after 6 p.m.

Teams qualify by their conference finish and their overall record.

Drew Pasteur, who has written computer programs to analyze high school football performance in North Carolina, believes every 4-A team with five or more wins will make the playoffs. About half of the 4-A teams with four wins will advance, he believes.

Going into the final week of the season, only 17 of the 96 4-A teams have no chance of advancing to the playoffs. Only one of 77 football-playing 1-A schools has been eliminated.

Pasteur's Web site, which has power rankings, game predictions and much more, is http://www.fantastic50 .net/.

Dual-team tennis: Four area teams play on the road today in the NCHSAA dual-team tennis semifinals.

Broughton (18-0) travels to Greenville Rose (13-0) in the 4-A semifinals. Chapel Hill (15-5) plays at Wilson Fike (20-3) in 3-A. Carrboro (12-7) is at Green Central (21-6) in 2-A, and Durham Science & Math (17-0) heads to Williamston (15-5) in 1-A.

Today's winners will advance to the NCHSAA dual-team championships Saturday at the Burlington Tennis Center.

The 3-A and 4-A finals are at 9 a.m., and the 1-A and 2-A championships are at noon.

Volleyball finals: Cardinal Gibbons and Cedar Ridge will play in the NCHSAA volleyball championships Saturday at N.C. State's Reynolds Coliseum.

Gibbons (23-1) will play West Henderson (27-1) in the 3-A final at 5 p.m. Cedar Ridge (24-4) plays North Surry (32-0) at 2:30.

In the 4-A final, Greenville Rose (23-0) takes on Charlotte Ardrey Kell (24-5) at 7:30.

The 1-A final at noon matches Pender (28-2) and Rosman (31-1).

Cross country finals: The NCHSAA cross country championships are scheduled for Saturday at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons.

Broughton is the two-time defending 4-A boys champ and will race at 2:30 p.m. The 4-A girls championship race is at 3:30.

Races begin at 10 a.m. with the 1-A boys and will be followed at 10:30 by the 2-A boys.

The 1-A girls start at 11 a.m., with the 2-A girls at 2:30 p.m..

The 3-A boys run at 2 p.m., with the 3-A girls at 3.

NCHSAA cheerleading: The seventh annual NCHSAA invitational cheerleading championship is set for Saturday at the Raleigh Convention Center with a record 116 teams entered in 10 categories.

Competition begins at 9 a.m.

NCHSAA soccer: The second round of the NCHSAA boys soccer tournament is scheduled for Saturday, although teams can play earlier by mutual agreement.

Fuquay-Varina will play at Durham Jordan on Saturday at 5 p.m.

West swimmer picks Texas A&M: Swimmer Sarah Henry of West Johnston committed to Texas A&M this week.

She won the NCHSAA 4-A 500-yard freestyle in 2009 and the 100 butterfly in 2007. She also competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.

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