WAKE FOREST- The hourglass of Apex’s season finally ran out of sand on Friday, as the team fell to No. 3 Wake Forest-Rolesville in the third round of the 4-AA playoffs by a score of 35-7.

After a promising start, taking the game’s opening drive 69 yards on six plays for a 7-0 lead, Apex couldn’t answer the next 35 points.

And it certainly wasn’t due to a lack of chances.

After Wake Forest (12-2) got a one-yard touchdown from Brexton Young, and a Tim Hartman-to-Torrey White nine-yard score made it 14-7, Apex was threatening inside the red zone.

With the ball on the five-yard line on a fourth-and-one, Apex called its seventh consecutive running play, and back-up running back Rob Conolty was stuffed for no gain.

Wake Forest ran out the remaining time in the half and led by a touchdown after two quarters.

“We played hard and we could’ve had a chance to stay on the board and we missed opportunities for points,” Apex coach Bob Wolfe said. “Some of that was due to them, some of that was due to us but [Wake Forest is] a super football team.”

Wake Forest scored on its first possession of the second half on a one-yard run from star running back Trea Jones, but momentum didn’t stay with Wake Forest for long.

Its next two drives ended on turnovers, the first one coming on a Bo Ogunnowo interception and the second on a Lewis McAlister fumble recovery. It seemed like new life had been breathed into Wolfe’s team.

On the very next play, running back Kevin Fogg took a handoff before throwing to a leaping Rob Fronk along the sideline for a gain of 31. After offsides penalty gave Apex a fourth down conversion, quarterback Houston Hawley went back to Fronk on third-and-10, connecting for 26 more yards and placing the ball at the nine. Once again, the pressure was on Wake Forest’s red zone defense.

“We haven’t been there much this year. Our defense has been strong and we’ve been holding people under seven [points],” Wake Forest-Rolesville coach Earl Smith said. “That’s what they do best, they got down there and bowed their necks and did what they had to do.”

Hawley lobbed a fade pass on the very next play for Fronk but underthrew it, landing in the hands of defender Logan Welsh. The 21-7 lead was still intact for Wake Forest heading into the fourth.

With Apex now having to play catch-up, Hawley was picked off again. Darren Kirby returned the errant pass to the four-yard line, where Hartman punched it in four plays later.

Both teams had three turnovers apiece, but there were just seven points off turnovers. What hurt Apex more was missing out on scoring opportunities as opposed to watching Wake Forest capitalize on their miscues.

James Harris tacked on another touchdown with less than two minutes left in the game on a 31-yard scamper that included his quarterback Hartman landing a clock-cleaning block as Harris reversed field.

Apex ended the year with 10 wins to just four losses and had previously never been to the third round of the playoffs before, which is something Wolfe hopes his team will remember first, instead of just how it ended.

“It’s always tough to lose that last game,” Wolfe said.

The team got a chance to look back at the season after school let out on Monday.

“We’ll talk about the season and how good things have been and not to let this game tonight put a damper on what they’ve done this whole season,” Wolfe said.