APEX – Fuquay-Varina needed every one of its 451 rushing yards on Friday night to outlast a persistent Apex team and remain unbeaten in a 21-13 road victory.

Clinging to a one-point lead with just over eight minutes remaining, the Bengals wore down the Apex defense on a 77-yard scoring drive that left the Cougars with just 90 seconds and an eight point hill to climb. Apex couldn’t gain a first down on its final drive, and Fuquay escaped with the team’s sixth straight win and improved to 3-0 in the Tri-9.

When Fuquay quarterback, Nate Budde took the final snap and kneeled down to watch the final seconds tick off the clock it was the first break he and several other Bengals got all evening. Thanks to a host of injuries, Budde and many of his teammates have been playing on both sides of the ball.

“It’s the fourth quarter,” he said of his team’s final, clinching drive. “This is how we do it in practice. We’re tired, but we’ve just got to have that mental focus and keep stepping it up and keep doing what we do and keep the ball moving and have some momentum on our side.”

Budde had a right to be tired. When he wasn’t breaking up passes and making tackles at cornerback, he was rushing for a game-high 208 yards and a touchdown. Cory Hunter, the other half of Fuquay’s two-headed rushing monster, carried 33 times for 196 yards and two touchdowns, including the Bengals’ final score.

It was a total team effort on a night that Fuquay was plagued by penalties, two turnovers and a bunch of Cougars that just wouldn’t go away. Apex overcame a 14-0 Fuquay lead to pull nearly even at 14-13 in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve got some great running backs - Cory Hunter and Nate Budde - at quarterback - and our two wings,” Fuquay coach, Ryan Habich said. “We ask our offensive line, ‘Hey, pop ‘em through to the secondary and they’re going to make big plays for us.’ They’ve been doing a great job all year getting them through and our running backs are hitting the hole tough.”

Jordan Duncan is part of that offensive line that’s been paving the way for the area’s leading rusher, Hunter (207.3 ypg) and the area’s best rushing offense, averaging 396.2 yards per game.

“We have complete confidence in all our running backs and quarterback that they can run the offense,” Duncan said. “We open up the holes. We know that if we block, they’re going to make the plays. It’s a good balance.”

Habich said Fuquay’s offensive philosophy is simple, and it was clearly on display during the final drive.

“We wanted to chew up the clock, and we wanted a ball control offense,” Habich said. “And we wanted to take it right down their throat and score. We just ran about three plays, kept running the same three plays. And that’s what football’s about. We wanted to be physical. We’re gonna come at you and we want to run north-south and get downhill.”

The Bengals (6-0, 3-0) are going to need more of the same this Friday as local rival, Holly Springs (4-3, 3-1) visits for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. The Golden Hawks, now a member of the Tri-9, are coming off three straight wins including a 23-20 win on Friday night against Panther Creek. Running back, J.J. Graves leads the Holly Springs option attack, averaging 97.1 yards per game.

Bengals Soccer

While the Bengals were busy on the gridiron at Apex High, the Fuquay-Varina soccer team was playing another kind of football Friday night across town at Tri-9 rival Middle Creek (7-3-3, 5-2-2) – and playing it well. Hector Valentin scored a hat trick with a three goal performance against the Mustangs in a 6-3 Conference win. Aaron Schiappa added a goal and an assist. Andrew Sotak scored and DeShey Thomas also found the back of the net. Davis Meyer had an assist.

With the win, Fuquay improved to 12-1-0 overall, 7-1-0 in the Tri-9. The Bengals entered this week in sole possession of the top spot in the conference.

Friday night’s win followed a 2-0 shutout of Cary High on Wednesday. Meyer and Thomas both scored in the match and Valentin added an assist.

This Thursday, begins a two-part conference test as the Bengals travel to Apex (9-3-0, 6-2-0) to take on the always powerful Cougars. Then Monday, Apex makes the return trip to southern Wake County. The back-to-back matches should go a long way in determining who will rule the Tri-9 this fall. Apex entered this week tied with Athens Drive (9-3-0, 6-2-0) for second place in the conference.