APEX - West Johnston entered its match-up against Apex having lost its last three games of the regular season. Apex had won six of its previous seven games.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, those trends continued as the two teams that were headed in opposite directions did meet in the first round of the state 4-AA playoffs. Apex (9-3) pulled away in the second half to register a 33-8 victory over West Johnston who finished its season at 8-4.

The Wildcats' offense, which came into the contest averaging over 31 points a game, was never able to get on track. C.J. Frederick was held to 20 yards on 16 carries as the Apex defense met him in the backfield all night long.

Quarterback Lincoln Morton, who was pressured continuously, came inches away from connecting with his receivers for huge gains several times on the evening as everything seemed to be just a little off for the Wildcats.

Despite the troubles the offensive unit was having moving the ball, the Wildcats' defense scratched and clawed its way to keeping West Johnston close. Apex scored on its first possession but was unable to do any more damage after that in the first half.

On an offensive series towards the end of the second quarter that typified the night for the Wildcats, Deonte Anderson appeared to have come down with two remarkable catches as West Johnston appeared to have tied the game.

On the first play, Anderson was deemed to have been out of bounds before controlling a pass in the end zone. On the second opportunity, Anderson appeared to have put the Wildcats on the one-foot line with a great catch but the play was ruled an incompletion after the ball came loose after Anderson hit the ground.

"We felt we had a couple plays there in the second quarter that, you know, we get one or two of those calls and maybe go into the halftime with the lead," said West Johnston coach Bennett Jones, "I thought he [Anderson] was trying to reach the ball over because he wasn't sure if he was in the end zone or not [referring to the ruling that the ball was dropped on the second pass play]."

Apex then seized control of the momentum and the game on the first play from scrimmage in the second half as Kevin Fogg found daylight and ran 75 yards to put the Cougars up by two scores. "We did a great job against Fogg all night for the most part," said Jones, "But one play...it was an underneath counter... they hit us with it and took it to the house."

The Wildcats never recovered.

A controversial pass interference call against West Johnston kept the Cougars' next drive alive and a subsequent unsportsmanlike penalty set the Cougars up at the Wildcats' 7-yard line. Two plays later, Jamie Zieglmeier took it in from one yard out to effectively put the game out of reach.

"Penalties just killed us tonight," Coach Jones said, "We didn't play very well in the second half."

West Johnston was flagged 15 times on the evening and both teams combined for almost 200 yards in penalties.

Apex tallied touchdowns on all of its first four drives in the second half as quarterback Houston Hawley led the Cougars through the air on 13-for-22 passing for 175 yards and on the ground for two short touchdown runs.

West Johnston added a late score as the future of the Wildcats was on display. Patrick Crocker found Sean White for a 12-yard strike to give West Johnston a glimpse of what's on the horizon.

"We took a lot of steps forward this year as a program but we still have a long ways to go," said Jones, "Last year was the first winning season... this year we took another step forward. We take three steps forward then [we} take two steps back. That's just the way learning is."

"I can't say enough about how proud I am of those guys with all the adversity they've handled all year long," Jones concluded, "I'm proud of the kids. I'm proud of the effort. These seniors have built a winning foundation. And we got a group of guys right now who are hungry to come on and carry on the tradition."

Apex 33, West Johnston 8

West Johnston 0 0 0 8

Apex 6 0 14 13

First Quarter

APX-H. Hawley 1 run (K. Fogg run failed).

Third Quarter

APX-K. Fogg 75 run (L. Drago kick); APX-J. Zieglmeier 1 run (L. Drago kick).

Fourth Quarter

APX-H. Hawley 1 run (L. Drago kick); APX-R. Conolty 4 run (kick failed); WJO-S. White 12 pass from P. Crocker (D. Ray run).

Team Statistics WJO APX

Rushes-Yards 31-36 34-155

Comp-Att-Yards 8-25-105 13-23-175

Penalties-Yards 15-100 10-98

Interceptions (thrown) 1 0

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-0

Punts-Average 4-35 2-27

First Downs 8 16

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: WJO-C. Frederick 16-20, M. Umphrey 5-12, C. Umphrey 4-9, P. Croker 1-17, J. Proctor 1-2, L. Morton 4-(-24); APX-K. Fogg 9-87, R. Conolty 8-31, D. Lassiter 3-22, J. Zieglmeier 3-12, S. Knox 1-16, H. Hawley 10-(-2).

PASSING: WJO-L. Morton 5-21-63, P. Croker 3-4 42; APX-H. Hawley 13-22-177, K. Fogg 0-1-0.

RECEIVING: WJO-D. Anderson 2-41, D. Causby 1-21, M. Umphrey 1-16, S. White 1-12, D. Ray 2-12, C. Frederick 1-3; APX-R. Fronk 3-68, B. Carr 6-51, K. Fogg 2-37, J. Zieglmeier 2-19.