HOLLY SPRINGS — As the game-tying field goal sailed inches left as time expired in the first half Friday night, Holly Springs went into intermission stewing on the missed opportunity. Rather than start the second half level with Apex, the Golden Hawks were down 10-7.

Holly Springs needed less than two minutes to erase its deficit as quarterback Brett Hudspeth's 1-yard TD run kick-started a 28-point, third-quarter explosion in the Hawks 35-17 win over the Cougars.

"That's a big win for us," said Holly Springs coach Will Orbin. “We're down 10-0 right off the bat. We had a chance to tie it at halftime, missed it, came back out and the kids just did a great job.”

On the game's first play quarterback Ian Boyd threw a 44-yard strike to Gavin Locklear. Six plays later, Boyd scored on a 2-yard run for a 7-0 Apex (2-5, 1-5) lead 2:32 into the game. But Holly Springs bottled up Boyd, who started the game averaging 212 yards of total offense since making his debut four weeks ago, the rest of the night. He finished with 117 yards passing and nine rushing yards.

Late in the first half, Hudspeth threw a strike to Jordan Kornegay, who took off 69 yards to the end zone to cut the deficit to 10-7.

“We felt like we could get behind them, and it was just matter of taking our shots when we got the chance to,” Orbin said. “We knew we were going to get our shots, but we had to take them.”

After both teams traded fumbles midway through the third quarter, Hudspeth (198 yards, four TDs) scored again from a yard out to put the Golden Hawks up 21-10 with 3:42 left in the quarter. Holly Springs’ defense forced quick two turnovers, including a Connor Simmons interception, that quickly turned into two more touchdowns. Hudspeth tossed a 13-yard TD to Evan Allen, then Kelvin Wilson scored on a 7-yard run.

Both teams entered the night with two wins on the season, and the winner still has a fighting chance at the playoffs.

Holly Springs (3-4, 2-3) had additional incentive to put on a good show for its homecoming crowd. Carlos Rodon, who led the Golden Hawks to the 2011 4-A state baseball championship and is an All-American at N.C. State, had his jersey retired at halftime.