Wake Forest-Rolesville advances

Big plays from both the offense and defense send Earl Smith's team to the 4-AA Eastern final

WAKE FOREST -- Wake Forest-Rolesville found itself in a hard-fought struggle, but eventually pulled away from Apex Friday night to claim a 35-7 victory in the third round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-AA football playoffs.

Wake Forest-Rolesville will play at Fayetteville Britt, a 24-7 winner over Hope Mills South View, next Friday in the Eastern 4-AA finals.

This Eastern finals will be the first time Wake Forest-Rolesville has been this far in the playoffs and also the first time coach Earl Smith has taken a team this deep into the postseason.

WF-R (12-2) relied on all phases of the game to eliminate a game and determined 10-4 Apex club.

Apex showed from the opening minutes that its third-round appearance was no fluke.

It drove 69 yards on the opening possession to take a 7-0 lead. Houston Hawley passed 10 yards to Rob Fronk for the touchdown in front of a large Trentini Stadium crowd.

But helped by some big defensive stops in the shadow of its own goal, Wake Forest never let the Tri-Eight 4-A Conference runners-up into the end zone again.

Wake Forest rallied quickly on offense, helped by good field position.

First, WF-R drove 45 yards for the tying touchdown, a 1-yard run by Brexton Young.

After a strong defensive stand and a short Apex punt, WF-R started at the Apex 26. Trea Jones dashed 18 yards and three plays later, Tim Hartman passed nine yards to Torrey White for a 14-7 lead.

Apex responded with a 75-yard drive, but on fourth-and-1 at the Wake Forest-Rolesville 5, defensive end Keaton Epps dropped Apex's Rob Conolty for no gain to preserve the halftime lead.

Wake Forest-Rolesville received the second-half kickoff and quickly drove 62 yards to take a 21-7 lead on Jones' 1-yard run.

Apex rallied again, marching to inside the Wake Forest-Rolesville 10 late in the third quarter before WF-R senior Logan Welsh intercepted a lob pass in the endzone to again turn back Apex.

The WF-R defense continued to shine in the final period, as Darren Kirby picked off another Apex pass. His 36-yard return set up a 4-yard, four-play scoring drive that raised the Wake Forest-Rolesville advantage to 28-7 with 5:38 to play. Hartman scored on a 1-yard run.

"The defense shut them [Apex] down when we needed it," said Wake Forest-Rolesville running star Trea Jones, who rushed for 96 yards in the first half and added 51 in the second half.

"On offense we struggled," Jones said. "They're a good team with a good defense. We had to just keep pounding them."

Jones' replacement, sophomore James Harris, got the final score on a spectacular 30-yard run. "We knew what Apex was capable of with a player like Kevin Fogg and a quarterback like Houston Hawley," coach Smith said. "They got that first score, but that was it. The defense got it done with some big plays. Logan Welch and Darren Kirby's interceptions were huge. Epps also made that big stop."