Wildcats fall to Prattville on the road

Missed opportunities were the theme of the night as the Enterprise Wildcats dropped a Class 7A, Region 2 matchup on the road to the Prattville Lions by a score of 17-16 on Oct. 1.

On four different occasions the Wildcats had the ball inside the Prattville 20-yard line – with two of those inside the Lion 5-yard line – and ended up coming up with no points on those drives. Those mistakes, along with 105 penalty yards, will surely weigh on the minds of the Enterprise football team moving forward.

Enterprise opened the game with a 6-play scoring drive that running back Mykel Johnson capped off with a 34-yard touchdown run to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead with 7:11 left in the opening period. Prattville answered right back with a 14-yard touchdown run to tie the score 7-7 with 5:21 remaining in the first quarter.

After a Wildcat three-and-out, Prattville took a 14-7 lead when Prattville quarterback Edward Ousley threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Miller with 15 seconds left in the period.

Enterprise opened the second quarter backed up inside its own 5-yard line after a series of penalties. Despite this, the Wildcats managed to put together a 13-play drive that saw Enterprise with a first-and-goal from the Prattville 8-yard line. Penalties and a bobbled snap pushed Enterprise back and eventually the Wildcats turned the ball over on downs.

Prattville then extended its lead with an eye-popping 50-yard field goal from James Rogers with 1:52 left in the first half. The Wildcats then marched down the field and scored on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Quentin Hayes to Johnson with just 10 seconds remaining in the half. The Wildcats trailed 17-14 going into halftime.

Neither team managed to score in the third quarter but Enterprise drove into Prattville territory twice in the period but came away with no points on those opportunities.

As the fourth quarter began, Enterprise drove inside the Prattville 10-yard line once again before turning the ball over on downs.

The Wildcat defense, however, took over. After pushing Prattville back inside its own 5-yard line, Ousley was hit in the end-zone by linebacker Marzavious Reed and Ousley desperately threw the ball away causing an intentional grounding penalty to be called. As a result of that penalty, Enterprise earned a safety – the only points scored in the second half – to cut the Prattville lead to 17-16 with 8:20 left in the game. The Enterprise defense allowed just a total of 55 yards and three first downs in the second half along with forcing a turnover.

The Wildcat offense then went to work and drove all the way down to the Prattville 1-yard line. The Wildcats were then hit for a loss on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line leading to the first field goal attempt of the season for Enterprise. Hayes managed to coral a high snap but the 20-yard field goal still hit the left upright and fell harmlessly to the turf with Prattville hanging on to the 17-16 lead with under two minutes remaining.

The Enterprise defense against stood tall and managed to force a Prattville punt with 50 seconds left to go but as they attempted to block the punt, Rogers booted a 57-yard punt that rolled inside the Enterprise 5-yard line. The Wildcats were unable to get back into scoring position and Prattville hung on for a big region win.

After Prattville threw for more than 300 yards against Hoover the previous week, the Wildcat defense held the Lions to just 80 yards passing and just 190 total yards for the game. Meanwhile, the Wildcat offense piled up 383 yards of offense with 279 yards rushing.

Hayes led the Enterprise offense with 109 yards on 17 carries along with 104 yards and a touchdown passing on 6-of-15 passing. Amare Griffin rushed for 105 yards on 17 carries and Johnson rushed for 43 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries along with 67 yards and another touchdown on three catches.

A dejected Enterprise coach Rick Darlington said after the game this may be the toughest loss he’s suffered as a coach because of the opportunities Enterprise failed to capitalize on.

“We fought our (tails) off,” Darlington said. “We battled and had every chance to win. How many times were we in the red-zone with a chance to score?

“We had the ball on the 1-inch line with a chance to (lead) and couldn’t get it in. I’ll put it all on me. The kids battled, we had a ton of injuries but there are no excuses. Even with all of that we had the ball on the 1-inch line with a chance to win it and just couldn’t get it done.”

Johnson, receiver Aiden White and running back Sam Whitaker all played defense, as well, as the Wildcats came in short-handed on defense. The Enterprise offensive line also came in banged up and lost offensive tackle Harrison Gammill to a foot injury in the loss.

Reed led the Enterprise defense with eight tackles, one tackle-for-loss, one quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery, while linebacker Jackson Blount added seven tackles and safety Eric Winters earned four tackles and a tackle-for-loss..

“They played their guts out,” Darlington said of his defense. “We had guys that had to play both ways, out there battling and playing out of position. We also had offensive linemen we never thought would have to play tonight and guys stepped in and played their hearts out.”