APEX — The Apex High football team received a humbling lesson in Murphy’s Law on Friday night, when the Cougars suffered a 47-7 shellacking by Leesville Road.

“As we got in the game, about anything we did went wrong,” said Apex coach Bob Wolfe. “That happens.”

Things starting going downhill from the opening kickoff. Apex placekicker Stephen Weiss teed up the ball on the hash mark to his right. In the press box, an Apex assistant coach was screaming into his headset that he wanted Weiss to kick from the left hash.

Word reached the Apex sophomore in time, and he made the necessary adjustment — only to boot the kickoff out of bounds.

Why Apex lost The Cougars (2-1) couldn’t get anything going offensively. By halftime, when Leesville Road led 33-0 and the game was effectively over, Apex had 55 yards of total offense. The Cougars ran 29 offensive plays; 20 went for zero or negative yardage. They had as many turnovers as first downs (three).

Tailback Kevin Fogg, who averaged 138 rushing yards in the Cougars’ first two games, was held to 24 yards on eight carries. Twenty-one of those yards came on what turned out to be his final carry of the night late in the second quarter. Leg cramps forced him to sit out the second half. Jim Turner was lost for the second half for the same reason, leaving the Cougars without their two best running threats.

Forced to go the air, Apex quarterback Houston Hawley completed 10 of 32 passes for 97 yards and three interceptions. Hawley had little time to find a receiver before Pride defenders were in his face. His efforts were hindered by his receivers dropping at least a half dozen passes.

Despite the lousy night, the Cougars showed no signs of quitting. Down 47-0 in the fourth quarter, Brandon Carr exploded for a 58-yard run that set up Zach Johnson’s 13-yard TD pass to Parker Harrell.

Why Leesville Road won: The Pride (3-0) had a handful of big plays and took advantage of everything.

The Pride had only 237 yards of total offense, but that’s because they worked from a short field all night. They had an average starting field position of the 50-yard line. They scored on four of their first five possessions, and Cody Lyon ran an interception back 90 yards for a touchdown late in the first half.

The Pride also got a 66-yard punt return from Zach Greene that gave them first and goal at the Apex 6-yard line.

They said it: Trying to put a positive spin on the night, Wolfe was asked if it’s good to have a game like the Cougars had Friday early in the season.

“It’s never good,” he said. “Some people say it’s better to do it now, but it’s better not to do it at all.”

Leesville Road played about as close to a perfect half as can be hoped for in the first half Friday. Can the Pride do better?

“We’re going to try. You always want to improve,” said Leesville coach David Green. “Right now, at this point in time, that’s probably about as well as we can play. But we want to get better. If they want to play in December, we’ll have to play like that and play better.”

Looking ahead: The Cougars are off this week. They have one final non-conference tune-up before the start of the Tri-Eight season. Apex next plays Millbrook (2-1) on Sept. 14.

“We’ve got to come out next game, play hard, be ready to play hard again, execute and get some points on the board,” said Apex offensive lineman Decarius Kanyinda.