As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and in the quarterfinals of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 4A state playoffs, the 95 game win streak of Alexander Central from Taylorsville, ranked No. 2 in the FAB 50 rankings came to an end Friday night.

North Davidson (23-5) beat Central (29-1) by a score of 10-5 to advance to the Final Four where it will play South Caldwell (26-0) in the best two-of-three format.

In another upset of an undefeated team, Cape Fear (23-1) of Fayetteville, ranked No. 10 in the FAB 50 national rankings, was upset by Conley, which will play Apex in the other Final Four match-up.

Ironically, both of those teams had met in the championship last year, but both fell Friday night in the quarterfinals.

Alexander Central – whose last loss was in the fourth round of the 2012 playoffs – had won two straight 4A titles and four of the previous six, but was unable to hold onto 3-1 and 5-4 leads, the latter going into the top of the six inning.

North Davidson scored six runs in the top of the seventh and pitcher Blakely Thrower nailed down the win after coming in the second inning and shutting down the powerful Cougars offense, led by All-American candidate Vada Sherrill, daughter of Head Coach Monte Sherrill.

The offensive star for the Black Nights was Hailey Cole, who went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI.

“True team,” the Knights head coach Mike Lambros, the state’s all-time winningest coach, told the Lexington Dispatch. “We had a little offense, a little defense. Carson (Pace) handed the ball to Blakely. Blakely did extremely well. We never gave up. It’s fantastic. Fantastic.”

If Alexander Central had won Friday night and then taken a pair in the Regional Round starting May 26 and State Championship Series on June 5, it would have not only captured a third straight title, but ended the year with a 100 game win stream.

The season-ending loss now will turn discussion around the Alexander Central program to the status of the head coach, as Sherrill is rumored to be sought after by several college programs.

Daughter Bailey was the MVP of the 4A Playoffs last year and is currently at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, N.C. near Richfield.

Vada, a senior infielder, will graduate so the timing makes sense with both daughters now gone. Also, Vada is currently unsigned which adds fuel to the thought that she will go where her father goes… if he does indeed leave.

Or perhaps he’ll stay, motivated by the premature loss, to start another extensive streak. In 2006, he was coaching at Central Cabarrus when his then state-record 83-game win streak was ended by… North Davidson, which stopped the 95-game victory streak Friday night.