Home sweet home: Enterprise returns to Bates Memorial Stadium

For the first time since it was renovated, Bates Memorial Stadium will host an Enterprise High School football game as the Enterprise Wildcats (2-5, 0-4) host region foe R.E. Lee Generals (4-4, 2-2) on Friday.

Enterprise residents will get a chance to fill “The Hole” once again this Friday as the Wildcats host a game at Bates for the first time since moving into Wildcat Stadium in 2010.

“The Hole” has a big imprint in the storied football tradition of Wildcat football with Enterprise winning nearly 77 percent of its games played in the stadium since its construction in 1956.

The stadium was badly damaged during the deadly tornado of 2007 and renovation on the venue was completed by the City of Enterprise in 2017. Renovations included new handicap accessibility, new entrance gates, a new sound system and upgrades to the press box, concession stands and bathrooms.

Enterprise coach David Faulkner pointed out that many of his players got a chance to play rec league football in the stadium but have never had the chance to experience a Friday Night Lights atmosphere. It will also be Faulkner’s Friday night debut in the stadium.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Enterprise coach David Faulkner said. “None of us have had a chance to do this on a Friday night. So, it’s going to be fun to go out there and play and hopefully the community will be excited about it and we’ll have a great crowd.”

Faulkner said he got a chance to coach in the stadium once before when he was an assistant at Hoover and the two schools met in a spring game in 2004, but he’s looking forward to getting a chance to coach the Wildcats in the legendary stadium.

R.E. Lee and Enterprise are both coming off losses to Class 7A’s No. 1-ranked Central-Phenix City with Lee falling to the Red Devils last week 44-17 and Enterprise losing 48-0 the previous week.

Enterprise enjoyed a much needed bye week last week.

“With a week off you definitely want to try and improve your team,” Faulkner said. “You do that by practicing and the weather got us in the first half of the week last week, but we were able to get out there and practice on Thursday and Friday and I think we saw some improvement there.

“You also hope that break can rejuvenate you mentally and physically, too. We seem to be bouncing around out there a lot better in terms of our effort and energy at practice.”

The Wildcats and Generals have had similar seasons that started off with consecutive wins followed by a stretch of losses.

Enterprise kicked off the season with wins over Dothan and Charles Henderson before losing five straight to Auburn, Smiths Station, Prattville, Northview and Central, while Lee picked up consecutive wins over Park Crossing, Sidney Lanier and Jeff Davis to open the season.

The Generals then lost to Auburn before bouncing back against Smiths Station only to lose three consecutive against Carver-Montgomery, Prattville and Central.

While the Generals have struggled on both offense and defense at different times during the season, Lee is averaging 21 points per game and giving up 20 points per game. The Generals offense has yet to score more than 27 points in a game this season.

“They have a big, athletic defensive front and they’re long and athletic in the back half (of the defense),” Faulkner said. “Offensively, it all goes through (Tedarrian Murray). He is a very talented, hard-nosed runner and they do a good job up front of getting a hat on a hat and opening holes for him.”

Enterprise averages 19.5 points per game and has been shut out twice, while giving up 33.5 points per game. In the past four games Enterprise has given up 46 points or more twice and R.E. Lee has given up 35 or more twice.

With a number of injuries piling up on the Wildcat defense – including leading tacklers Robert Ellis and KD McCray – Enterprise will look to take advantage of a struggling Lee defense in what could turn out to be a high-scoring showdown.

Both Prattville and Central were able to take advantage of a number of explosive passing plays against Lee. Both teams were able to score on passing plays of 30 yards or more, and both had multiple 70-yard passing plays.

Enterprise quarterback Grant Thornton is coming off a frustrating performance against Central, but the senior has completed 102-of-174 passes for 1,285 yards and nine touchdowns this season. A big performance from Thornton could be the spark the Wildcats need.

Thornton’s favorite targets have been sophomores Josh McCray (26 catches, 312 yards, two touchdowns) and Jared Smith (21 catches, 307 yards, four touchdowns), who will look to rebound from an effort that saw the two combine for just one catch against Central.

Enterprise running backs Maurice Hicks and Trey Robinson combined for 126 yards on 21 attempts and will look to add balance to Enterprise’s offensive attack against the Generals.

Another thing Enterprise will look to improve on is the turnover department. The Wildcat defense has forced just two turnovers all season.

“I just want our guys to come out and play with great effort and enthusiasm this week,” Faulkner said. “We have to do a better job on third down on both sides of the ball and just play good solid football.

“We need to protect the ball and we need to create some turnovers. We haven’t created a lot of turnovers this year and we definitely need to do a better job there.”