Barbecue chicken with vinegar sauce.

Barbecue chicken with red sauce.

Barbecue chicken with vinegar in a red sauce.

Barbecue chicken off the grill.

Barbecue chicken from the oven.

Barbecue chicken with peppery white gravy.

I love barbecue chicken so much that the thought of eating crow doesn't bother me.

Here are some hits and misses (caws for crows and cackles for chickens) from the preseason edition on Aug. 14:

CAW CAW: I sure was wrong about West Johnston, as has been pointed out to me a few times by Wildcats fans throughout the season. I picked the Wildcats to finish sixth in the Greater Neuse River 4-A. West Johnston finished second in the league, advanced to the playoffs and wound up 7-5 after losing to Millbrook 62-31 Friday.

CAW: More crow with South Johnston. I picked South Johnston to finish fifth in the Cape Fear Valley 3-A. Actually the Trojans dominated the Cape Fear Valley 3-A and finished 10-2. They exited the playoffs with a 24-21 loss to Southern Lee in the first round.

CACKLE: Garner was the preseason No. 1 in The N&O rankings and finished the regular season in the same spot. The Trojans haven't always looked good, but they've always found a way to win.

CAW CAW CAW: Durham Riverside was No. 11 in the preseason poll and finished 1-10.

CAW CAW: East Wake was No. 9 in the preseason poll. I guess I got caught up in how good the Warriors had been in the past few years. They finished 2-9.

CACKLE: Leesville Road and Wake Forest-Rolesville. Both were in the preseason top five. Both have been in the top five all season.

CAW: Durham Jordan was my favorite in the Piedmont Athletic 4-A. Durham Hillside and Southern Durham, both in the preseason top 10, shared the regular-season title. Jordan dropped too many close games and finished 5-7 after losing a first-round playoff game to Garner, 49-28.

CACKLE: The kickers in the Cap Seven 4-A were lauded, and they turned out to be just as good as advertised.

CACKLE: Louisburg was picked to win the Tar Roanoke 1-A, and the Warriors did so easily. The ground attack was featured in the preseason, and Louisburg leads the area in rushing with 354 yards per game.

CAW: The preseason focused on the tremendous speed of several area players and talked about how speed helps produce big plays. But of the eight players featured, Tobais Palmer of Pittsboro Northwood is the only one who consistently made big scoring plays.

CACKLE: Nick DeMuro said this year's goal at Athens Drive was to prove last year's success was not a fluke. The Jaguars are 11-1, and DeMuro leads the state in passing yardage with 4,043.

CAW: Northern Durham. I expected the Knights to bounce back from a 1-10 forfeit-filled 2006 season and contend in the PAC-Six. They did not, finishing 3-8.

CAW-CACKLE: Middle Creek. Projected to finish sixth, the Mustangs tied for the Tri-Eight title, but they finished 6-6.

CACKLE: Fuquay-Varina. The Bengals are sneaky good. They don't have gawky offensive numbers, but they are exceptionally good as a group.

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