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Andalusia (0-0) will return to Class 5A and open the 2024 football season against a Class 7A heavyweight when Enterprise (0-0) comes to town for senior night on Friday, August 23, at 7 p.m.

Trent Taylor enters his 37th season overall as a head coach and 10th season with the Bulldogs. He holds a career record of 277-148 and is just six wins shy of 100 at AHS. Ben Blackmon is 146-59 in his 18th year of coaching and is 17-7 in his third season at EHS.

“Coach Blackmon does a great job and has been successful everywhere he has been. Before he came to Enterprise, he was at Spanish Fort and played for some state championships,” Taylor said. “I have heard this is going to probably be the best team Enterprise has had in several years. From a talent standpoint, they have a couple of guys on defense who are Division I prospects including an Ohio State commit, a Kentucky commit, and an Auburn commit. They will be a well-coached football team and will not look like the typical first game opponent.”

This game will be the 45th matchup between the two teams and their first meeting since 1976. The Wildcats hold an all-time 26-16-2 series lead over the Bulldogs. In the last meeting, Andalusia won a defensive battle at home over Enterprise, 8-3.

Although Andalusia has begun the season with top-tier teams before, Taylor said he was unsure if they would be ready for Enterprise.

“We have opened with quality teams in the past when we played Saraland and Fairhope. To play an opponent like Enterprise early on, our kids will learn a lot about themselves and their opponent. It’s good to jump in the fire. We are a young team in a lot of areas and while some guys had playing time last year, we have very few who started for us last year. Our kicking team has the potential to be strong. While we can do drills to simulate certain aspects of the game, there is nothing like going live when toe meets leather,” he said.

According to Taylor, the Bulldogs will probably have more players on both sides of the ball this year than previous seasons.

“This is not necessarily by choice and ideally not the best situation in south Alabama. When you play a 2A or 3A team, they are doing that; however, when you play in 5A and have a 7A opponent, I doubt you will see many guys from Enterprise playing both offense and defense. There are many challenges, but our kids are excited to play after practicing since spring training. I really like our football team and feel like they have been locked in,” Taylor said.

Andalusia finished the 2023 season with a 10-2 record and was the 4A Region 2 runner-up. Enterprise was 9-3 a year ago and finished as the 7A Region 2 runner-up.

Senior football players, cheerleaders, and band members will be recognized before kickoff at 6:30 p.m.