EHS selected to play in Champions Challenge

The Wildcats will play the weekend of Aug. 23-24, against Bob Jones. Game day and kickoff time had not been set before The Southeast Sun went to press Tuesday.

The Champions Challenge pairs a select few of the state’s teams in preseason games at the Cramton Bowl.

Spanish Fort, Central-Clay County and McGill-Toolen were winners in last year’s event.

Bob Jones finished last season 8-4 after a 14-13 loss against Mountain Brook in the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs, and EHS coach David Faulkner said playing the Patriots will be beneficial for Enterprise during summer drills.

“I think it’s also a great deal for our players and our program in the fact that we know all summer that we have a very good opponent waiting on us a week earlier than what we would normally start the season,” Faulkner said. “We’ve got to have a very productive summer. I think it will help keep us focused. I think it will always be an easy turning point to get our guys locked in and ready to go for the summer knowing they have that waiting on them.”

Bob Jones has won 11 region championships, including last season, and Faulkner knows the Patriots will be a worthy opponent.

“We have to understand as a football team that going in and playing a team that is traditionally a top-10 football program in the state of Alabama – and has been the last three or four years and has really been a quality program — that we’re going to have to prepare to be on that level ourselves,” he said. “It’s really going to make us value every day. Like I told the (players), we don’t want to get into a deal where we count the days until we play Bob Jones. We want every day to count.”

Throughout the summer, the Wildcats will be focused on getting better as a team.

“The only way to get better is to raise your level of competition,” Faulkner said. “We’ve been working at that. Bob Jones has an excellent program, and has fielded excellent football teams. It will be a playoff-type environment. It will be a playoff-type opponent so it’s really going to force us to be ready to play good football early in the year.”