Chapel Hill beat Apex 12-8 to win their second-straight N.C. High School Lacrosse Association 4-A boys state championship at Duke's Koskinen Field.

Chapel Hill senior midfielder Logan Corey, scored six goals for the Tigers, taking the pressure off his teammates, namely fellow senior midfielder William Scroggs, junior midfielder John Haus and junior attackman Stephen Burns.

"I went into this game knowing they would be pressured to the fullest extent," said Corey. "I knew I had to step up."

Chapel Hill coach Glenn Estacio lauded his team's offensive depth.

"Any one guy could do that on a given night," he said. "It was Logan's night."

Scroggs, Haus and Burns all netted a pair of goals each, but Corey's pair of goals within 22 seconds of each other late in the fourth quarter, gave Chapel Hill a 11-7 a comfortable lead with just under four minutes left in the game.

"We just needed a few more possessions," said Apex coach John Hayden. "We just didn't get it."

It was actually Apex that jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the game.

Estacio quickly called a timeout.

"I told them, stick with our program," said Estacio.

That program was to put pressure on the ball on both offense and defense, and wear down Apex.

And very quickly, Chapel Hill took control of the ball back for three quick, unassisted scores starting with Corey, followed by Scroggs and Haus.

From there the game see-sawed back and forth, though Chapel Hill took a 6-5 lead at halftime.

Chapel Hill jumped out to a 9-6 lead in the third quarter, but Apex senior attackman John Szep scored early in the fourth, assisted by senior midfielder Kane Ateshian, making the score 9-7.

Hayden said the Tigers' relentless play wore his team down at times.

"They did a good job of playing us all over the field," said Hayden.

The coach lamented the turnovers his team gave up, but he said it wasn't like the Cougars were playing sloppy.

"Chapel Hill did a good job in transition," said Hayden, who added that most of the turnovers were forced by the Tigers' intense defense. "They chased us down and got it back. Those weren't unforced turnovers."

The teams were still matched pretty well until the end.

Apex freshman goalie Emil Weiss drew praise from both sides. He made several saves at point-blank range in a game that Chapel Hill got 40 shots off. Weiss finished with 22 saves.

"Their goalie surprised the [heck] out of me," said Corey. "We could not get him to let some balls in."

Said Hayden: "Isn't he something else? He is unfazed by the whole thing. He was over there smiling at halftime like he was playing in a sandbox."

Chapel Hill limited Apex to 27 shots on the night.

"We were right there," said Hayden. "We just played too much 'D.' We needed to keep them to 9 or 10 goals."

Estacio said it was a long season and the goal, all along, was to repeat as state champions.

"Anything short of that would have been a disappointment," he said, noting that his team was top-ranked all season. "It was our only goal."