Three new teams enter the News & Observer Sweet 16 while the top teams stay steady

Sure, Cardinal Gibbons lost its second game of the season. But the Crusaders have lost two games to two of the best teams in the state, and penalizing them for that would be tough. So, despite a loss on the road at Charlotte area No. 3 Myers Park and a 3-2 record, Cardinal Gibbons remains atop the standings.

Many regional teams had the week off as a bridge to conference play as some teams played catch-up in the standings. Cleveland was one of those teams, and run its record to 5-0.

In fact, thanks to all of the byes this week, the top eight remained unchanged.

Where we did see some movement was from No. 9 on down. Panther Creek won a good road game against Green Hope to slide into the Top 10. Three teams — Garner, Fuquay-Varina and Middle Creek — either debuted or returned to the poll this week. Through no fault of its own, Chapel Hill won, remained unbeaten, but slid to No. 16 to round out the group.

Big matchups on the horizon this week include No. 6 Heritage hosting No. 3 Millbrook.

Rank	School	Record	Prev.
1	Cardinal Gibbons	(3-2)	1
2	Cleveland	(5-0)	2
3	Millbrook	(5-0)	3
4	Rolesville	(3-2)	4
5	Leesville Road	(4-0)	5
6	Heritage	(5-0)	6
7	Princeton	(4-0)	7
8	Wake Forest	(3-2)	8
9	Panther Creek	(4-1)	11
10	Knightdale	(3-1)	10
11	Wakefield	(4-1)	9
12	Hillside	(3-2)	12
13	Garner	(2-2)	NR
14	Fuquay-Varina	(4-2)	NR
15	Middle Creek	(2-2)	NR
16	Chapel Hill	(5-0)	13

Poll compiled by Chris Hughes