WAKE FOREST – If you like good defense, the NCHSAA 4-AA football sectional between Wake Forest-Rolesville (14-0) and Fuquay-Varina was the game to watch on Friday night. The top-seeded Cougars and the fifth-seeded Bengals didn’t allow each other so much as a first down in the opening quarter at Heritage High, WF-R’s temporary home this year.

“It’s obviously the best defense that we’ve faced all year,” Fuquay coach, Ryan Habich said of the Cougars. “They’re big. They’re physical, and they’re well-coached and very disciplined. It’s hard to move the football.” Cougars’ running back, Trea Jones broke the stalemate early in the second quarter, when he found an opening in the Fuquay defense and broke a 55-yard touchdown run.

Late in the half, Fuquay was forced to punt deep in their own territory, but they got the break they had been looking for when WF-R mishandled the punt and the Bengals recovered near midfield. Then the good fortune quickly turned as Fuquay fumbled two plays later, giving the ball right back. The Cougars made them pay, scoring another touchdown on two plays as time expired to take a 13-0 lead into intermission.

“If you make one mistake, they’ll capitalize on it,” Habich said. “We turned the ball over. That’s something we try not to do and we did that tonight.”

The Cougars scored twice more in the game before the Bengals found the endzone on Cory Hunter’s one-yard run that capped a 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter. Hunter, who averaged 149.7 yards per game this fall, was limited to 23 yards on the night. Bengals quarterback, Nate Budde rushed for 75 yards.

The Bengals ended the season at 11-3 and among the final eight 4-AA teams in the state. Fuquay beat Raleigh Millbrook in the opening round, then downed Southern Pines Pinecrest in the second round.

The Cougars move on to host Fayetteville Jack Britt (13-1) in the 4-AA Eastern final this Friday. But they’ll have to do it without leading rusher, Trea Jones. Jones was carried from the field Friday night with a severe ankle injury.

The Bengals advanced to the 4-A sectionals in 2006 and absorbed second round losses in the 4-A brackets in 2007 and 2008. This fall, Fuquay-Varina made the jump up to the large school, 4-AA brackets.

“This is the first time that we’ve been in the 4-AA playoffs,” Habich said. “We represented Fuquay in a positive way - our town, and our community. Our kids played hard all year. We had some setbacks throughout the year, but one thing our kids did – they always bounced back and they played tough. That’s one thing about Fuquay-Varina, the kids are always gonna play tough and they’re gonna give you their all. I think, as a program, we’re going to build on this. For the younger kids, the underclassmen coming back, we’re going to build on this and we’re going to try to get further next year.”