APEX — Despite a menacing ground attack that chewed up 451 yards and saw two runners rush for over 190 yards, Fuquay-Varina needed a late drive to stay perfect in the Tri-Nine 4-A conference, easing past pesky Apex 21-13 on Friday night.

Up by just a point with a little over 8 minutes remaining, the Bengals (6-0, 3-0 conference) executed a 12-play, 77-yard drive – all runs – that ate up over seven minutes of clock. Cory Hunter ran the ball on nine of those plays, including a 2-yard touchdown run to effectively salt the game away.

Hunter finished with 196 yards on 33 carries, while Budde bested that with 208 yards on 20 totes.

“Offensively we were able to move the ball pretty good,” Fuquay coach Ryan Habich said. “On that drive, we wanted to chew up the clock, run the ball down their throats, and be physical. We ran basically the same three plays and ran North-South and got down hill and were able to seal the deal.”

The Bengals, who didn’t have an official pass attempt in the first half, started in dominating fashion as quarterback Nate Budde sprinted 36 yards to give his team a 7-0 advantage.

After a turnover and penalty stifled the next two Fuquay drives, the Bengals got back on track late in the second quarter as Cory Hunter capped another long drive with a 3-yard touchdown plunge for a 14-0 lead. But that momentum was short lived.

Apex’s Darius McClain took a short kickoff and out ran the coverage for a 65-yard touchdown to bring his team to within 14-7 going into halftime.

The Cougars rode that momentum in the second half. After forcing a three-and-out on Fuquay’s first possession of the half, they were able to execute a long drive of their own. Quarterback Adam Nelson, who didn’t play in the first half, led Apex on a scoring drive that culminated in a 2-yard touchdown run from Shawn Knox.

The Cougars missed the extra point, however, unable to tie the game.

Fuquay again started a long drive and looked to be going in for a score, when Apex cornerback Pernell James picked off Budde’s only pass attempt deep in Cougar territory and looked to be on his way to a long return that would’ve given his team a lead. The official, however, whistled the play dead, saying his knee touched at the Apex 3-yard line.

“We made a lot of mistakes,” Habich said. “We turned the ball over in the red zone and penalties killed us. We moved the ball, but we made mistakes. Coming off a bye week, we were lackadaisical.”

The Cougars did get the ball back, down 21-13 with 1:32 left, but were unable to get the ball past midfield.