Apex boys lacrosse goes for title on Friday night

Charlotte Catholic defeated Apex 11-8 a year ago to win the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A boys lacrosse championship.

Apex (19-2) will have a chance to avenge that loss Friday at 7:35 p.m., at the Wake Med Soccer complex in Cary.

Catholic (20-2) has seven players, including five seniors, who are committed to college programs. Junior Jackson Harris leads the team with 35 goals and already has committed to Mercer.

Apex is in the championship game for the fourth time in the NCHSAA’s six-year history in boys lacrosse. The Cougars are led by midfielder Chandler Besser (35 goals, 27 assists) and attackman Jack Hayden (46 goals, 43 assists).

The lacrosse championship weekend continues on Saturday at the same site.

Cardinal Gibbons (16-4) will meet Waxhaw Marvin Ridge (18-2) in a rematch of the 2014 1-A/2-A/3-A boys final at 4:05 p.m., at Wake Med. Gibbons won last year 11-8.

Gibbons has won 14 straight games and has a 14.6 goal average winning margin. Marvin Ridge allows four goals per game. Jared Blum is the leader with 38 goals and 34 assists.

The Gibbons girls (19-1) play Lake Norman (17-2) in the girls title game at 12:35.

The Crusaders’ Jordan Lappin has scored a remarkable 84 goals while Lake Norman’s Carly Vaccaro has 81.

Apex carries softball banner: Apex is the only area girls 4A softball team that survived the third round of the NCHSAA 4A playoffs this week. The Cougars defeated Southwest Wake 4A rival Panther Creek 7-0 to earn Friday’s home game against South Central Pitt, a 3-0 winner over Fuquay-Varina.

The other 4A East semifinal sends Winterville Conley, which nipped Harnett Central 5-4, to top-seeded Fayetteville Cape Fear, which advanced with a 5-0 win over Wake Forest Heritage.

The 2A quarterfinals is loaded with area teams. North Johnston travels to South Granville while Bunn is at home against Wilson Beddingfield.

Who will reach 4A finals?: One Triangle team will reach the NCHSAA 4A baseball championship since all four of the Eastern semifinals are from the area.

Millbrook and Leesville Road, both from the Cap Eight 4A Conference, play Friday night at Leesville while the PAC-Six 4A’s Northern Durham goes to the Southwest Wake’s Fuquay-Varina.

The winners will advance to next week’s best-of-three semifinals.

Soccer on Saturday: Most NCHSAA girls soccer quarterfinals are scheduled for Saturday night although Fuquay-Varina plays at Panther Creek on Friday in 4A.

Broughton travels to Wilmington Hoggard on Saturday. Carrboro is home against Trinity in 2A, and Raleigh Charter plays Franklin Academy in 1A at 9 a.m., at Mills Park in Raleigh.

Winston-Salem Hall of Fame: Ron Sebastian, who has been involved in officiating for 50 years, recently was inducted into the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County High School Sports Hall of Fame. Sebastian began officiating in 1964 and is now a regional supervisor of officials for the NCHSAA.

He has called NCHSAA championship games in basketball and baseball and officiated in the 2011 College World Series.

This story was originally published May 22, 2015 at 8:03 AM with the headline "Apex boys lacrosse goes for title on Friday night."