Northview upsets Enterprise in a wild finish

Enterprise’s 10 game winning streak over Northview came to an end Friday night when the Class 7A No. 8-ranked Enterprise Wildcats fell to Dothan’s Northview Cougars 23-22 in a come-from-behind victory for the Cougars.

The Wildcats dominated the Cougars in the first half, jumping out to a 22-0 lead, before mistakes began to mount up for the young Wildcats. Enterprise turned the ball over four times against Northview and was penalized seven times. Enterprise also had an extra point blocked and dropped a wide-open touchdown pass which later led to a turnover on downs.

“We didn’t deserve to win,” Enterprise coach David Faulkner said bluntly. “You can’t go out there and make that many mistakes, unforced errors, turnovers, missed tackles and penalties and expect to win. It was just a total lack of execution.

“We didn’t deserve to win the football game and Northview played their hearts out and found a way to win.”

Enterprise jumped on top 7-0 in the first quarter with a 36-yard touchdown pass from Enterprise senior quarterback Koty Fulton-Tice to senior receiver Chance Warren with 3:42 left in the opening period. A few minutes later a punt attempt sailed over Northview’s punter's head for a safety to extend Enterprise’s lead to 9-0.

In the second quarter, Enterprise extended its lead with a 1-yard Grant Thornton touchdown run, but the Wildcats first big mistake happened immediately following the score when Andrew Osteen’s extra point attempt was blocked.

The Wildcats led 15-0 and extended that to 22-0 with 7:37 remaining in the second quarter following a 26-yard touchdown pass from Fulton-Tice to Thornton.

Fulton-Tice completed 9-of-20 passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions. He also rushed for 57 yards on eight attempts. Warren caught five passes for 61 yards and a score.

The Wildcats’ next big mistake came late in the second quarter when Fulton-Tice threw an interception at midfield. The mistakes began to snowball from there.

“I think we have an immature football team,” Faulkner said. “It’s the same thing as last week. We tried to hone that lesson in this week about how lucky they were to pull that out.

“We put ourselves in the same predicament and it bit us in the end.”

The Cougars were able to create that turnover into points when Northview quarterback Grayson Davis punched in a 1-yard touchdown plunge with less than 10 seconds remaining in the half.

The two sides swapped turnovers when Northview’s Grayson fumbled inside the Enterprise 5-yard line and Fulton-Tice was intercepted again by Northview’s Ny’Travious Barkley. Northview again drove inside the Enterprise 5-yard line as the third quarter expired.

As the fourth quarter began Grayson punched in another 1-yard touchdown to cut Enterprise’s lead to 22-14 with less than 12 minutes of football remaining.

Grayson rushed for 71 yards on 14 attempts and scored three touchdowns while also completing 2-of-8 passes for 41 yards and an interception.

On Northview’s next drive the Cougars cut the lead to 22-20 following a 3-yard touchdown run from Grayson. Northview attempted to tie the game up on a 2-point conversion but the Wildcats managed to hold them out of the end-zone.

The Wildcats were unable to move the ball on their next possession and Northview got the ball back after a short punt set them up in Enterprise territory, but the Wildcats defense pulled down a huge play with an interception at the Enterprise 27-yard line.

Unfortunately, Enterprise was again unable to move the ball and seal the victory. As a result, Northview marched down the field – aided by two big Enterprise penalties –  and kicker Jackson Martin booted a 28-yard field goal with 16 seconds remaining.

A last-ditch Hail Mary attempt by Fulton-Tice was intercepted to close out any hopes for last-second heroics.

The lone bright spot for the Wildcats in the second half was freshman running back Josh McCray, who came in and carried the ball 14 times for 71 yards in the fourth quarter. McCray was needed because junior Tre Robinson sat out the game due to an ankle injury and junior Maurice Hicks injured his knee in the second half after rushing for 57 yards on 9 attempts.

“I felt good about the way he played,” Faulkner said of McCray. “He’s a freshman and has a chance to be a really good player for us. We brought him up as a depth guy and it turned out he had to handle the ball a lot for us in the fourth quarter. I’m proud of Josh and the way he played.”

Faulkner said that Hicks’ knee would be reevaluated later in the week.

The Wildcats outgained Northview 299 total yards to 254. The first half difference was much greater as Enterprise outgained Northview 202 yards to 61. Enterprise was outgained 193 yards to 96 in the second half with the Wildcats throwing for -2 yards.

Northview’s rushing game piled up 152 yards in the second half and did it methodically, never rushing for more than 29 yards on a single attempt.

Faulkner said that he hopes this game can teach his young Wildcats a lesson.

“We have to learn to come in and value practice and practicing the way we want to play and learn how to execute for 48 minutes,” he said. “If we don’t learn how to do that it’s going to be a tough season.”

Faulkner also said that this Enterprise squad must learn to finish games when they have teams on the ropes like it’s had the past two weeks.

“We have to get some toughness and learn how to finish games and close out,” he emphatically said. “We have to learn how to execute in pressure situations. We really did a poor job of that the first two weeks but it just caught up to us this week.”