For the third straight time in conference play, the Jets came out on the winning end, surviving two losses in singles matches to prevail 7-2.

J-M raises its record to 3-1 on the season with its lone loss coming to 2A Northwood.

Earning road wins like this could go a long way in the Jets journey to the conference title.

After finishing singles competition up 4-2, J-M needed a solid showing in doubles play, and got it.

Jonathan Petty, who lost in the #1 singles match to Caleb Wilson 8-4, teamed with Jonathan Sheetz, who also dropped his #3 singles match, falling 8-5 to Caleb Steel, to defeat Wilson and Matt Hand, 8-3.

Josh Williams and Dylan Gaines had solid days in both competitions.

Williams claimed the #2 singles match with a solid 8-5 whipping of Weslie Bell, while Gaines had a perfect performance in the #6 singles match, blanking Cory Robbins, 8-0.

The duo then teamed up in doubles play to double up Bell and Steel, 8-4.

Brice Lawrence was also flawless Monday, defeating Matt Hand, 8-0, in the #4 singles match.

Once again March Madness is upon us.

The time of year when we all get to fill out our brackets and test our basketball knowledge against the world.

Here at The Chatham News/Record, we make our picks amongst a panel of six highly trained hoops experts to offer the county a keen insight, enabling the reader to construct a bracket worthy of recognition.

Personally, however, I feel I must improve on last year’s third place finish behind editor Randall Rigsbee and photographer Jeff Davis.

The first thing I decided to change about how I picked games was to eliminate the heart.

Don’t pick teams to win that you like just because.

That is where I got into trouble last year.

My downfall was I picked against Duke from the second round on just because I hate them.

The more Duke kept winning, the more I kept losing.

So, no matter how many Pacific’s I got right or how many Nevada’s came through, I was always dropping one on the Duke game.

Sort of biting my nose to spite my face.

This year I have a new strategy.

I am going to pick Duke to go all the way to the Final Four, even though I think Syracuse will knock them out.

I figure, if they win, I win, if they lose, I still win.

Pretty easy if you ask me.

But, there’s no way I pick could them over Carolina in St. Louis.

The second thing I did this year was try to keep up with injuries.

A key player being out at this time of year could really hurt a team.

Stanford, for example.

The third thing I did was not get to crazy with one team pulling off an upset then pulling off another one.

more- See Thursday, March 17 paper: Vol 85, No. 16

SILER CITY – Cole Hudson may be new to his role as closer for the Chatham Central Bears, but it sure isn’t taking him long to settle right on in.

In Thursday evening’s Chatham County showdown between Jordan-Matthews and CC, Hudson was called on in the fifth inning to preserve a win for the Bears with the Jets poised to add another thrilling chapter in this long running rivalry series.

With the bases loaded and just one out, Hudson struck out two of the three hitters he faced in the frame, preserving a shaky three-run lead and sending the Bears to an 11-7 victory.

"We squandered some chances early," said CC coach Bill Slaughter. "We ran ourselves into a couple outs and played sloppy, but we battled, and that’s sort of becoming our theme. We’re not going to give up. We are going to battle till the end."

Hudson retired J-M in the next two innings, including three straight batters in the seventh after the Jets got runners on second and third.

"I just try to go in and throw strikes," said Hudson. "I felt a little bit (pressure) before a rival game, but not much.. Pressure doesn’t really bother me. I just wanted to throw hard and get them out. We needed to get the game over with."

more- See Thursday, March 17 paper: Vol 85, No. 16