APEX – For the first time in five years, Fuquay-Varina will not win a conference football trophy. The run of Tri-8 (now Tri-9), conference championships for the Bengals ended at four in a row on Friday night at Middle Creek. The Mustangs ground out a 15-13 win to give Fuquay its second conference loss and drop the Bengals into third place entering the final week of the regular season. Fuquay (8-2, 5-2) could have moved into a three-way tie for first place with Middle Creek (9-1, 7-0) and Holly Springs (7-3, 6-1) with a win.

“I’m proud of ‘em,” Fuquay coach, Ryan Habich said of his players. “Obviously, I want to win, but I thought the kids played well enough to win. I really wanted the senior class to go out with a chance for another conference championship, but we’ve still got a lot to play for. We’ve got a lot of season still ahead of us with the playoffs and everything else. We’re just going to go back to the basics and get better.”

The Bengals got on the board first, staging a 14-play drive that consumed more than seven minutes. Cory Hunter, who rushed for 71 yards on 22 carries, scored his 26th touchdown of the season, ending the drive with a six-yard run. Eric Powell added the extra point. At the end of the half, Fuquay had over 17 minutes of possession compared to 6:58 for Middle Creek, and the Bengals took a 7-6 lead into intermission.

The Bengals defense had one of its best performances of the season, limiting the Mustangs to just 10 yards on the ground. The high-powered Middle Creek offense entered the game averaging over 30 points per game.

“Defensively, we played tremendous,” Habich said. “To hold a team like that to 15 points, and really only giving up two big plays. We didn’t really play real well offensively, but you’ve got to attribute that to their defense. Their defense played very good, too. They stopped a lot of what we do.”

The Bengals trailed late in the fourth quarter, 15-7 when they got the big play they had needed all night. Deep in Fuquay territory, quarterback Nate Budde connected with Powell for an 82-yard touchdown pass. Needing a two-point conversion to tie with less than two minutes remaining, Budde’s pass sailed just over the head of Rogeric Harper in the end zone.

““It’s a lot like life,” Habich said. “You get knocked down sometimes. We’ve got a bunch of good kids with good character. We’ll bounce back from this. I’m proud of this team, though. I think we fought the whole way.”

This Friday night, the Bengals welcome Lee County (3-6, 2-5) for Senior Night. The Yellowjackets are coming off a 21-20 win over Panther Creek (4-6, 2-5).