It's the time of year when fall sports reach their crescendo with state and conference championships, and the local squads came home with some of the bacon.

The East Chapel Hill High School field hockey team won the state championship by eking out a 3-2 victory in the title game -- over Chapel Hill High School. Between them, East and CHHS have won four of the last five state field hockey championships.

East also won the state girls cross-country title last week. On the boys' side, Chapel Hill High School's Taylor Gilland won the individual cross-country crown. The rest of the state's cross-country runners have grown accustomed to watching the number on Gilland's back; this was his third straight individual state championship.

The Chapel Hill High School football team didn't win a state championship, but it gave itself the opportunity to take a crack at it. The Tigers have played all season in memory of their teammate Atlas Fraley, who died after a preseason scrimmage in August. Friday, they topped Jordan 43-20 to earn a share of the PAC-6 title and win a spot in the state playoffs.

Some even younger athletes made big marks this year. The Culbreth Middle School football team and Smith Middle School soccer team each completed undefeated seasons to win their conference crowns.

Overdue Roses to Triangle Transit Authority for its part in expanding the capacity of the bus serving the Chapel Hill-to-Hillsborough route -- and Raspberries to "Roses & Raspberries" for neglecting to mention TTA's role when we gave Roses to Chapel Hill Transit last week for the bigger bus.

TTA contacted Chapel Hill Transit to work out a solution to the overcrowded route. The agencies worked together and came up with a joint solution to encourage the use of public transportation and make it easy and comfortable for people to do so.

Bus riders between the two towns benefit from what is actually a three-way collaboration between TTA, Chapel Hill Transit and Orange Public Transportation, which provides mid-day service.

Roses to Margie Pfaff, Virginia Powell and Jean Seaman -- collectively known as the Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library Bookworms.

There's been a lot of talk in the news and elsewhere about the library lately, especially about whether the planned expansion should go forward as scheduled. One big reason we need a bigger library is that the one we have is so successful. And few people are more responsible for that success than these three women.

They organize the quarterly weekend book sales that bring so much income to the library -- about $10,000 from each three-day sale -- and they also manage the smaller weekly sales that generate an additional $100 to $150 per week.

Pfaff, Powell and Seaman work on behalf of the library every week of the year, and they do it on a volunteer basis.

Recently, their efforts got some well-deserved recognition, when the Friends of North Carolina Libraries named them the Volunteers of the Year in the state's central district.

Do you have a suggestion for Roses & Raspberries? E-mail ideas to Dave Hart, associate editor, at dhart@nando.com.