Orange High School's Panthers and Chapel Hill's Tigers met on the mat Wednesday night in a season-ending battle of conference unbeatens to decide the Carolina-6 championship.

Orange, which went 21-0 last year in winning its third NCHSAA dual-team championship, took the match 54-6 to finish this season 18-0 and 5-0 in the conference. But head coach Bobby Shriner knew that it was much more competitive than the final score suggests.

"We're excited," Shriner said about his team's 2011 Carolina-6 regular-season conference title. "The match did not indicate how close this match was. I know they had a couple of guys out of their line-up but man it was tough."

Of all the matches though, the first one, the 138-pound bout, was the most tightly contested. Chapel Hill's Peter Dreher held a 5-2 lead against Anderson Pope late into the third round. After an escape by Pope and a stalemate, the two started from a neutral position for the final 20 seconds.

Pope wasted no time in taking his shot to score a takedown and tie the match but he wasn't finished there. He wrangled Dreher to his back to score the difference making near fall as time expired.

"Wow, it was a brutal match and he's a tough guy," Shriner said. "Peter is a tough, tough guy. It was a hard fought match and he just caught him there at the end. We were trying to catch him all match and it was a hard back and forth. Anderson just hung in there and we're really thankful. It was a huge match."

Even though it didn't go his way in the end, Chapel Hill coach Tripp Price was pleased with Dreher's effort in the match.

"He did wrestle very hard, and it's tough to lose on a headlock like that in the end," Price said. "He's come back from a lot this year and it's just getting in shape so we're ready for the last three weeks here and that's the key. He was pumped up."

The Panthers followed up that meet-opening victory with back-to-back pins to jump out to a quick 15-0 lead. The first of those pins came from senior 145-pounder Zach Rimmer, who earned his 100th victory in his final match at home. Rimmer pinned Joe Carter to the mat in 5:06.

David Peters-Logue, Orange's 153-pound wrestler, followed that with an even shorter stint on the rubber as he pinned Ethan Martin in less than two minutes.

"He's really wrestled well and he keeps getting better," Shriner said. "Sometimes he'll catch people, he's got that long lengthy body and he just caught his guy with a half and so that was very nice."

Though the Tigers were competitive in most of the remaining bouts, Chapel Hill's only points came when heavyweight Parker Colston won by forfeit.

The win for Orange keeps the Panthers' dual record perfect as they look to the postseason. The NCHSAA duals tournament is set to begin Feb. 7 and it is the next step for both teams.

"At this point in the season I don't think they can teach us much more," Rimmer said. "It's just getting in shape and getting in the right mindset, getting ready for it. I'm excited for it."