Flag

Gold

The Apex Flag Gold team started of the season with a great performance against North Raleigh White. The Apex Gold team’s captain for the game was Josh Knudten. Josh went to midfield for the coin toss. The visitors from N. Raleigh won the toss and deferred to the second half. The referee turned to Josh and asked if he wanted the ball or kick. Josh replied with a resounding, “we want the ball”. On the very first play of the game, QB, Gavin Gallaher took the snap and ran a sweep to the right, cut back behind two great blocks by Tanner Hunley and Jack Kovasala and went 40 yards for a TD. Apex Gold went on the attack from the defensive side of the ball next. Great plays were made by Kyle Boland, Tanner Hunley and Charlie Riesett as they played tough D before giving up a 20 yard TD run to NR White. It was a back and forth game from there as both teams scored one more time in the first half. Apex Gold scored on a reverse by Donovan Shepard who scampered 30 yards for a TD behind superb blocking from his offensive line. The line did a good job for most of the game against N. Raleigh; consisting of Kieran Murray, Tristan Block, Kyle Boland, Charlie Riesett, Nicholas McMullen, Josh Knudten and Nick Lucovsky. Behind that solid blocking, Apex Gold scored twice more in the second half on long runs by Gavin Gallaher and Donovan Shepard. To finish the game N. Raleigh had the ball at the Apex 20 yard line and called timeout. Both teams huddled up to talk strategy. When play resumed, N.Raleigh ran a reverse, which caught the Apex defense by surprise, and went for a TD as time expired. Both teams played extremely well and were well matched. Great job Cougars! Good way to start the season. Tiny Mite Green

On a hot, summer day the 2010 football season begins. And for the Apex "Tiny Mite" Green Cougars, the season couldn't come soon enough. And what a display the Cougars put on, dismantling the Wake County Cowboys from the onset of the game

The Cougars began the game on defense and it was apparent early on in the contest that the Cowboys were in for a long day. The "Green Machine" on defense was led by #72 Drake Nereu, # 4 Luke Hille, # 25 Devin Boord, # 77 Josh Barrett and supported by the rest of the defense. The "Green Machine" was so dominant on defense that the Cowboys were unable to muster any positive yardage on the day.

On the offensive side of the ball the Cougars were equally as strong, running roughshod through the Cowboys’ defense. Coach Hille and staff used misdirection plays to open up huge running lanes aided by the outstanding blocking of #32 Luke Wilson, #51 Hunter Mestey and, #52 Michael Lish.

QB Luke Hille started out the scoring barrage on the first offensive series, running off right tackle in a hole so big you could have driven a Mack truck through it. On the second offensive series #8 Cole Ganim used a stiff arm to free himself from a Cowboys defender on his way to a long touchdown run; however, in the Cougars only mistake of the day the touchdown was called back due to a holding penalty. The Cougars wouldn't be denied, on the next play # 17 Michael Lane converted on a long running play into a touchdown.

The start of the second half would bring more fireworks from the Cougars high powered offense. Cole Ganim, #8 would get his touchdown this time on a reverse that would leave the Cowboys defense befuddled. The Cougars last offensive series would bring its toughest test of the day. They would need all four plays to get into the end-zone. The series began with QB Hille running for 20 yards. The second play brought a little trickeration…a pass play, completed to Adrian Stone. On 4th down # 15 Jack Flynt aided by the blocking of the QB scampers off the left side for his first touchdown on the season.

Coach Hille met with the team after the game and told them how proud he was of them. He reminded them we still have a lot of work to be done and he reminded his team that it won’t always be this easy! The "Tiny Might Green Cougars" now has a bye week going into Labor Day Weekend. Gold

With anticipation and excitement hanging in the air, thousands of youth football fields across the country woke to the first games of the season. At Lowes Grove Middle School in Durham, NC, the Apex Tiny Mite Gold Cougars would square off against the Durham Scrappin' Eagles. These long time rivals picked up where they left off from last week when they faced each other in the Jamboree Exhibition games. The Apex offense took to the field as if they had done this one hundred times before. The Apex center, Nathan Audycki, leaned over the ball preparing for the snap. The rest of Apex's offensive line took up their positions. Gage McNeilly, Will Miller, Jesse Powell, Nate Haydel, Jacob Smith & Reese Brown would not only become an impenetrable wall against Durham's defense, but the backbone of the Apex offense as well. Ryan McMichael called out the cadence.

The ball was snapped to Drew Miller who followed the lead blocks of Edward Kunas and Zach Auble. Twenty five yards later Drew was brought down by Durham's defense. A great start to a high energy game. That energy didn't fade when the Apex defense took to the field. The defensive line, Blake Russell, Ryan Todd, Landon Parker & Caleb Evans would prove to be a handful for Durham's offense. When Durham slipped past our D-line they were met by Apex's mobile, agile and hostile secondary, Matt Barnes, Keenan Coley, Tate Jones & Jake Mullins. By the start of the second half of the game, the Apex defense was pushing Durham's offense back on most plays.

Next week, Apex faces the South Johnston Trojans where their formidable ranks will be flushed out further with the addition of Gerard Barnette. Mitey Mite

Gold

Apex Mighty Mite Gold opened the season with a solid performance against the Tarheels of Orange County. Gabe Jensen, Arthur Phillips and Jeremy Berkowitz represented the MMG team as captains. When the Tarheels deferred, the Cougars were chomping at the bit to take the first possession. Four plays later, the Cougars put up their first score of the 2010 season. Kevin Conroy and Jaden Roundtree were able to find daylight as a result of strong blocking by the guys on the line. Seth Steinman, Hunter Kelley, Liam Murray, Jake Vehslage, Grey Hanburger and Gabe Jensen controlled the line of scrimmage opening up opportunities for the Cougars running game. Jaden Roundtree's touchdown run had the Cougars up 7-0.

The momentum was clearly with Apex as the defense forced a third and long, but the slipperry Orange County back got loose and went the distance for a touchdown. The Cougars defense stopped the extra point attempt making the score 7-6. Apex moved down the field on the following possession and Graham Reinke found the end zone pushing the Cougars up 13 - 6. The defense once again forced a third and long for Orange County but once again the backs were too slippery and Orange County came back to 13-12. The Cougars offense came up big again as the line opened holes and pushed the ball downfield. Kevin Conroy ran in to push the Cougars up 19-13.

Things were looking good for the tough Cougar defense as Zach Mullins, Arthur Phillips, Jack Kimball, Brien Conroy, and Joe Norman kept the Tarheels bottled up and moving backwards as the half was winding down. However, Orange County shocked the Cougars on a half ending touchdown run making the halftime score 19-18.

The second half proved to be all Apex's as the defense held Orange County scoreless with the help of their experienced D-backs, Jeremy Berkowitz, Payton Smith, Jackson Marley and Jake Pio. The Cougars defense held over and over getting the ball back on downs and even one fumble recovery during the second half. One more touchdown run by Jaden Roundtree put the Cougars up 26-18. Then it was all defense as the

Cougars were able to stop the tough Orange Couny Offense as the clock wound down for the game. Black

The Apex Mitey Mite Black team took the Lufkin Road Middle School field for the first time on Saturday against the Wildcats from Cleveland. The game was played to a 0 - 0 score until late in the game, but the Cougars prevailed with 2 scores to complete one of the most exciting games that will be played all season. The game began with the Cougars receiving the ball and moving down the field behind a strong offensive line that consisted of Patrick Flynn, Moses Ventura, Jacob "The Wall" Berlin, Josh Downtain, Cade Spector, Adam Carter, and Cooper Leonard. QB Luke Farrell moved the offense with precision even completing a pass on the drive to Daniel Rose, which is a rarity in Mitey Mite football. The backs consisting of Zach Vigue, Patton Germann, and Daniel Rose hit the holes made by the offensive line and hit them hard. The drive ultimately stalled, but field position was changed and that would be a huge factor for the rest of the half.

Defensively the Cougars took the field and forced a 3 and out behind strong line play and great tackling by the linebackers and safeties. The line was manned on the first series by Alex Robertson, Sam Katz, Hunter Wilkinson, Alex McMichael, J.J. Paulino - Johnson, Chris Ingram, Nicholas Barnes, and Austin Tingen. The line played in the backfield for most of the day. When the Wildcats did break the line Aaron Ventura, Harvey Cooper, Niko Gnann, "Slick" Willy Donohue, and Cooper Nowell were there to make the big hit. The rest of the half was played to a scoreless tie with the Cougars having one touchdown called back on a penalty and the final drive stalling inside of the 10 yard line. The Cougars were in full control of every aspect of the game, except the scoreboard.

Apex started the second half on defense and after a great kick by Austin Tingen the Cougars again dug their heels into the ground and pushed the Wildcats back ultimately forcing a punt. When the offense took over they again moved the ball with great runs by Cooper, Gnann, and Donohue. This drive again changed field position, but a fumble stopped the Cougars. The third quarter ended the same as the first half with the score 0 - 0.

The Cougars have put in great effort the past 4 weeks of practice to make sure they were ready for the 4th quarter of games. The Cougars were ready and showed the grit and never give up attitude of their coaches by fighting the full 40 minutes of the game. The defense got better and better with great efforts by Robertson, Flynn, Ingram, Leonard, Nowell, Vigue, Gnann, Cooper, and Ventura. The Wildcats could not move the ball. With less than 2 minutes to play the Cougars took the ball and marched down the field in no huddle fashion. Runs by Gnann, Harvey Cooper, and Donohue set up Rose for the first score of the game. It took the Cougars until the final 10 seconds of the game to finally punch one in that stayed up on the scoreboard, but better late than never. Great blocking and a full team effort lead to the score.