Oct 4, 2008
All week long, Apex coach Bob Wolfe chose not to remind his players that no Apex team had ever beaten Middle Creek.
“We did not mention it to them the whole week because the focus really needs to not be on that but on what we need to do as a team so we purposefully did not talk about that this week,” Wolfe said.
But don’t think for a second that going one week without mentioning the streak – the Cougars were previously 0-5 against the Mustangs - meant Wolfe’s players didn’t have it on their minds.
“It’s amazing,” linebacker Brock McGehee said of the historic win. “I told the other guys, this is the most important game of the year for us – maybe our lives for some of us – we’ve never beaten this team, it’s their homecoming, it’s on the road and they’re our biggest contestant for a conference championship.”
The players doused Wolfe with Gatorade as the clock wound down on the 28-6 win.
“I’m real chilly but I’m warm inside because it’s a great feeling,” Wolfe said.
Apex (4-2, 2-0) got running back Kevin Fogg back from injury, and while he did score twice, taking his sixth carry on the night 35 yards to paydirt and adding a receiving touchdown in the third quarter, this game was all about the Cougar defense.
The Apex defense picked off Middle Creek (2-4, 1-1) five times on the night, and limited the Mustangs to just 79 yards of total offense.
“Turnovers are always big because most of the time it gives you good field position and it stopped things for them even though it gave us poor field position. That was a good mental lift for us,” Wolfe said. “Turnovers are always big, as long as we’re not doing them.”
One particular series of possessions all but summed up the Middle Creek offensive troubles.
After eight plays brought the Mustangs into Apex territory, a reverse pass from Tre Nesbit was picked off by Apex’s Joey Powell at the 1-yard line on the second quarter’s opening play.
The Cougars, backed up to their own 1-yard line, were forced to punt after a three-and-out, but another Mustang miscue, a muffed punt, was recovered by Apex’s McGehee, setting up an electric Fogg touchdown nine plays later.
“I’m back!,” Fogg exclaimed as he came to the sideline, his team now up 8-3.
When Middle Creek finally did get the ball back, it ended in another interception – this time Bo Ogonowo doing the honors after the pass deflected off its intended target – just as the Mustangs had advanced into the red zone.
The very next time Middle Creek quarterback Garrett Leatham led the Mustangs on to the field, he found his team backed up to his own 12, and McGehee intercepted another pass, throwing off his defenders before taking it to the goal line where he fumbled into the end zone and teammate Mike Fogg fell on it.
In all, Apex forced four turnovers in three Middle Creek possessions. By the time it was all over the Cougars were up 15-3 with less than two minutes left in the first half.
“First half especially, we moved the ball very well. We went up and down the field but if you get inside the 20 and start turning the ball over it’s going to be a long night,” said Mustangs coach Sean Crocker. “Apex had defenders in good positions, sometimes an under-thrown ball here or a miscue there, but for the most part it was just good defense.”
Implications from this game went beyond the streak. It also featured the two more impressive teams in the Tri-Eight conference.
Apex defenders Bryce Sneed intercepted another pass early in the second half, and Powell tacked on his second interception to give the Cougars their five.
“Most people thought we were going to lose this game. To win the way we did, it was a boost for our confidence and to finally break the curse, it’s really a great feeling,” Powell said. “It’s up there on our best defensive stands.”
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