Apex quarterback Houston Hawley provided the only points of the first half on a 1-yard sneak on the game's opening drive, and the 7-seeded Cougars held a 6-0 lead at half.

To that point, neither team could get much traction with the ground game. At the half, Apex had negative-three yards on 12 tries and West Johnston had just 15 yards on 14 carries.

But all that changed with the first play from scrimmage in the second half, as Kevin Fogg took the misdirection handoff, found a gap, and bolted for a 75-yard score.

"We went into halftime saying we needed to pick it up," Fogg said. "I got the ball and saw it was wide open."

The run and point after made the score 13-0, and thanks the Cougars defense, which bottled Wildcats running back C.J. Frederick to just 19 yards on 15 carries after previously averaging more than 133 yards per game.

"We watched plenty of film and knew where he was going to run," Apex defensive tackle Lewis McAlister said. "Our D-line talked about taking their O-line out of the game."

With the running game stifled, Wildcats quarterback Lincoln Morton had trouble as well, completing just five-of-eighteen passes.

After losing their original head coach two weeks before the year began, the Wildcats raced out to an 8-0 start, but ended their season with four straight losses.

"We took a lot of steps forward as a program but we've got a long ways to go," coach Bennett Jones said. "I can't tell you how proud I am of the way they handled all the adversity they went through."

The Cougars went back to the ground on its next drive after the Fogg score, calling six straight running plays before an incompletion forced a third-and-11 on the opposing 27-yard line.

The ensuing halfback pass from Fogg sailed over the leaping Rob Fronk, but officials flagged West Johnston (8-4) for pass interference. Another flag came out for unsportsmanlike on a Wildcat player, making it a first-and-goal at the seven.

Flags littered the field for most of the night. In one particular six-play series, six flags were thrown. In all, 25 penalties were accepted for 188 yards.

Jamie Zieglmeier punched in a 1-yard score two plays after the unsportsmanlike call, and the point after made it 20-0 Apex in the third quarter. To open the third quarter, Hawley sneaked in from the one again and made it 27-0 with 11:55 to play in the fourth.

"It feels good because the last three years we haven't been past the first round," Fogg said.

In fact, Apex (9-3) had not been to the second round since 2004, before any of the current Cougars were in high school.

"Our team is definitely peaking at the right time," McAlister said.

Running back Rob Conolty added the last touchdown for Apex on a four-yard run, and West Johnston's backup quarterback Patrick Croker found Trent Clements open from 13 yards out to get the Wildcats on the board with 23 seconds left.

The Cougars' next opponent, 2-seed Wilmington Hoggard, defeated Pinecrest on Friday by the 33-8 score.