Eliot Duke photo

The Chatham Central Bears finished off their dual team season in fine form, topping East Surry for the 2005 Dual team championship Saturday night. Above the Bears pose after receiving their plaques. The Bears ended their year with a 26-6 record.

J-M alum and current holder of "the shot", Jordan Snipes, looked on with everyone else as Garret Parks, with the clock expiring, launched a 25-footer that rattled home as the buzzer sounded, propelling the Jets to an incredible, 51-49, victory over the Bulldogs.

"I couldn’t believe it went in," Parks said. "It was awesome. I still can’t believe it happened. I wasn’t making shots all night. I threw it up there and it went in. We just wanted to give us a chance for a win, and we did."

Fresh off a 50-point whipping at the hands of the Northwood Chargers on Wednesday night, J-M came out Friday night and executed its offense well.

With the home folks out in full force, Ferguson sent them into a frenzy by opening the night with a pin in his match against the Topsail Pirates.

"This feels great," Ferguson said. "To go through all the work we’ve done as team it’s great to see us all work well together and make it to the states, finally. This was a little too close for comfort. It was pretty stressful making it through it."

The anticipation swelled throughout the night, especially after CC grinded out a 38-37 win over the Pirates to advance to the title match.

When Brown took the mat in the final match with the Bears leading by four, a state championship was all but certain.

There was almost no way Brandon Brown was not going to deliver.

Wanting a pin, the crowd settled for a solid whipping, as Brown did exactly what he had to do against ES’s Jeremy Perdue to give his team what they had worked so hard for, a 46-36 triumph.

When the sixth minute ticked away and the hand shakes were exchanged, Brown and Co. went into the stands and celebrated with the very people who had cheered them on through some very difficult matches.

Nothing is perfect, but there are times when you feel you made a really good decision in life.

This past weekend, I was assured that I made the right choice in my profession.

Doing my job is a lot like doing any other job, and trust me, I have had other jobs not nearly as neat as this one.

Sometimes your battery does get a little low, and writing creatively doesn’t always come as easily as you would like.

It turns out, all you need is a little pick-me-up to rejuvenate one’s self and re-discover why it is that you made a particular decision.

A weekend like this is why I do my job.

On Friday night, I covered Jordan-Matthews basketball versus the Albemarle Bulldogs.

I am not claiming to be psychic or anything, but when I saw Jordan Snipes at the game, I had a feeling that I might get to see a game winning shot, being "Mr. Buzzer Beater" himself was in the building.

Sure enough, in the boys game the Jets Garrett Parks drilled a 25-footer as the clock expired, sending J-M to a huge upset of the second place team in the conference.

During the course of a basketball season, you get lucky to see one buzzer-beater, so I felt, well, lucky.

more- See Thursday, February 10 paper: Vol 85, No. 11