Repeat in store for Wildcats?

I figured losing all but one of its starting defenders -- not to mention the county player of the year -- would be too much for Lake Norman's boys soccer team to overcome in its quest to win another state championship.

I think I'm going to be wrong. Big time.

The Wildcats are playing as crisp as they did last season, when they captured the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3A state title and completed a perfect 27-0 season.

The win streak is 39 games following Monday's 3-1 victory over Northwest Cabarrus which decided who took over first place outright in the North Piedmont Conference.

Top-ranked Lake Norman is at second-ranked Charlotte Catholic on Thursday. If the Wildcats triumph in that affair, I say Iredell County is destined to have its first back-to-back NCHSAA state champion since the Statesville girls tennis team won in 1999 and repeated in 2000.

It's great to be a Mountaineer

Big Blue who?

I'm not going to say I knew Appalachian State would go into the Big House on Saturday, shock the world and beat Michigan. That would be a lie. But I'm not going to sit idle either and miss relishing the Mountaineers' 34-32 victory over the most prestigious college football program in country.

Incredible.

Where are the naysayers now? You know, the ones who downplayed the significance of Appalachian's back-to-back national championships because they came at the Division I-AA and Football Championship Subdivision level.

My co-worker Brad Norman -- like me, an Appalachian State graduate -- put it best: No more Division II cracks. No more comments about our junior varsity title.

Maybe now others around the country will learn how to pronounce Appalachian State correctly.