Assorted musings from the 2003 high school football regular season: GIVE THE STUFF BACK: Middle Creek coach Anthony Barbour collected his team's equipment following the Mustangs' 22-14 win over Apex in the final regular-season game on Oct. 24.

On Sept. 26, 2001, as Dusty Anderson sat dazed in his 1986 Pontiac LeMans, athletics was the furthest thing from his mind. He knew he was injured -- and badly. He had gotten his license only only three weeks before and had agreed to give a teammate a ride home.

Running back George Bell of Fayetteville Britt, one of the top football prospects in the state, announced this week that he will attend future Atlantic Coast Conference member Virginia Tech. Bell, a 5-foot-11, 225-pound speedster, rushed six times for 20 yards in Friday's 16-13 overtime loss to Scotland County.

The N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association will wrap up all of its fall sports except for football this week with championships in boys soccer, boys and girls cross country, field hockey and girls tennis. The NCISAA begins its three-week football playoffs next week with the finals on Nov. 11 or 12 in 11-man football and on Nov. 7 or 8 in eight-man.

Harnett Central has been beaten badly enough often enough to know how unpleasant it can be. That's why Central's record-setting, 62-28 football victory over South Johnston on Thursday night left Central coach John Ward feeling a little ambivalent.

Veteran Chapel Hill volleyball and girls basketball coach Sherry Norris notched her 500th career volleyball victory last week when the Tigers defeated Durham Riverside 23-25, 25-12, 25-13, 25-23. Chapel Hill trailed the Pirates 14-23 in the fourth set before taking the victory.

Charlotte Independence has won N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A football championships the past three years and is expected to add another this season. Coach Tommy Knotts' club is undefeated and there appears to be no end in sight to the Patriots' domination.

The Atlantic Coast Conference again is recruiting well in men's basketball, and the haul could improve in the next few weeks. Most of the top 100 players in the Class of 2004 have made commitments and can sign binding national letters of intent in November.

Garner forward announced Wednesday that he will accept a basketball scholarship to Clemson.

Millbrook's Nick Hutchins won the Wendy's Invitational cross country championship Saturday at McAlpine Park in Charlotte. Hutchins finished in 15 minutes, 12 seconds, believed to be the fastest time in the state this year.

The N.C. High School Athletic Association football playoff system may be too much of a good thing. If there's one thing that most high school football coaches in North Carolina agree on, it's that the season starts too early (Aug. 15 this year) and lasts too long.

Roger Schnepp, the boys basketball coach at Black Mountain Owen High , got the sort of reception he expected last spring when he started calling college coaches about David Weaver. "Hey, coach, I've got a 6-8 sophomore who can be really good" is the college basketball recruiting equivalent of "the check is in the mail."