The Middle Creek football team started the season 0-4, with three of those losses coming by seven points or less.

But the Mustangs learned from each loss and have now won their past two games, including a 30-14 victory at Apex on Friday. The once winless Mustangs now sit atop the Tri-8 conference standings with Athens Drive at 2-0.

“It feels really good,” Middle Creek coach Sean Crocker said. “We played some really tough teams and unfortunately we came up on the short end of those. We felt confident that if we kept our guys’ heads on straight and keep them pointed in the right direction some of those tough losses might end up in tough wins for us.”

Middle Creek’s victory against Apex was one of those tough wins. In a game that was much closer than the score indicated, turnovers were the difference. The Mustangs forced five turnovers while committing none themselves.

The first Apex turnover changed the whole momentum of the game. With Middle Creek leading 14-7 at halftime, the Cougars came out of the locker room and marched down the field to the Mustangs 9. But the ball was fumbled and linebacker Todd Ringenberg was able to recover it for Middle Creek at the 12.

“They were marching,” Crocker said. “They had a good drive going. They were going in. We called a play and the linebacker hit it just perfect, made him drop it. It’s like where somebody hits you in the stomach and all the air goes out of you, I felt like that kinda happened to them.”

Middle Creek used the rest of the third quarter to drive down the field, and capped it off with a 19-yard field goal from Travis Howard on the first play in the fourth quarter to take a 17-14 lead.

Two plays later, Middle Creek forced another turnover, this one a Ringenberg interception he returned 15 yards to the Cougar 17. It took running back Nate Harris just two plays to find the end zone and increase the Mustang lead to 24-7.

Apex quickly recovered on the next possession as Brandon Carr scored on a 15-yard pass from quarterback Houston Hawley. The Cougars recovered the ensuing onside kick, but their offense stalled and they were forced to kick a 35-yard field goal, which was blocked by Ringenberg.

“I felt it was there the first two field goals they kicked; I was within an inch of getting those and I knew I had it,” said Ringenberg, who also said he played the best game of his life.

The Middle Creek defense continued to pressure Apex and it resulted in two picks — both by Greg Parker — in the final four minutes of the game. Parker returned the second interception 90 yards with 20 seconds remaining in the game for the final score of the night.

“Obviously it’s feeling a whole lot better winning,” Middle Creek quarterback Brett Burnette said. “We felt like with our preseason schedule that we played we’d be ready for conference when we got to it. So we were pretty confident.”

Burnette said it was the best he’s seen the defense play this year, and Crocker said it was the most complete game he’s seen his defense play. Crocker also said he thought the confidence the Mustangs got in their first win, a 51-0 victory against Green Hope on Sept. 21, carried over to the win against the Cougars.

Apex, on the other hand, has a lot of questions to answer. The Cougars (2-4) have lost four consecutive games and are 0-2 in the Tri-Eight.

“Just gotta work harder, just like I told them at the end there tonight,” Apex coach Bob Wolfe said. “We played well enough to win tonight except for little things that we’re not doing. Whether it be offense or defense or special teams. ... We’ve got the makings to be a pretty good football team and we just gotta get to a point where we’re putting everything together and have things go the right way.”