Cougar rally falls short against Enterprise

The teams that win the turnover battle are usually the teams that win ball games.

There was no exception Friday night at Rip Hewes Stadium.

The Enterprise Wildcats took advantage of five Northview Cougar turnovers, scoring 21 points off those turnovers in a 28-20 win.

“You can’t turn over the ball and beat a good football team,” said Northview head coach Chip Harris.

The mistakes happened early and often for the Cougars.

On the second play of the first Northview drive, a bad handoff fell to the turf. Enterprise’s Chandler Duncan fell on it at the Cougar 26.

Four plays later, Enterprise quarterback Tony Gray rushed in from 6 yards out. The extra point gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.

The Cougars battled back with a 12-play drive that ended when B.J. Chitty hit Joe Coachman with a 15-yard touchdown pass. Coachman caught the pass in between two Enterprise defenders.

The Wildcats answered quickly as a 39-yard pass from Gray to Bill Butler set the Wildcats up at the Northview 37-yard line.

Five plays later, Wildcats running back Brandon Hart scored on an 8-yard run. Enterprise led 14-7 with 2:05 left in the first quarter.

The second of Northview’s miscues occurred on the ensuing kickoff when Robert Henderson fumbled. Jaylond Franklin recovered for the ’Cats at the 23.

A 22-yard pass from Gray to Frazier set up Gray’s second touchdown run, a 1-yard plunge that gave the Wildcats a 21-7 lead.

One more turnover in the first quarter burned the Cougars.

On the final play of the stanza, a bad pitch on the option fell into the hands of Enterprise’s Tim Ponds, who advanced the ball about 20 yards to the 17-yard line.

Hart ended the drive with a 1-yard touchdown rush, and Enterprise controlled a 28-7 lead early in the second quarter.

Northview answered with a 10-play drive that ended when Michael Mims ran in from 2 yards out. The extra point made the score 28-14, which is where it stayed until halftime.

After Enterprise’s opening drive ended in a missed field goal, Northview tried a double-reverse pass. Coachman fired the ball into the hands of Enterprise’s Brandon Tisdale.

Northview pulled to within eight as Chitty hit former Enterprise Junior High standout Brandon Burks with a 50-yard touchdown pass.

Bryant McGowan blocked his third extra point of the season to keep the score at 28-20.

“I thought our guys fought back. That’s all you can ask for,” Harris said.

Northview’s final drive got into Enterprise territory on a 50-yard Chitty run, but Gray, seeing his first action on defense this year, intercepted the pass to end the Cougar threat.

“We’re in a situation where we gotta do what we gotta do,” Enterprise head coach Kevin Collins said of using offensive athletes on defense. “The timing worked right for the dime package.”

Gray completed nine of his 15 passes for 110 yards, hitting Butler four times for 58 yards and Frazier five times for 52 yards.

Hart led the Wildcat ground attack with 117 yards on 20 carries.

Chitty led the Northview attack with 157 yards on 12 carries and 7-of-12 passing for 104 yards.

Mims added 72 yards on 13 carries.