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The Andalusia Bulldogs could not keep pace with Enterprise Wildcats in the football season opener Friday night, falling 35-7.

The Wildcats came into the season as the fourth-ranked 7A team in the state while the Bulldogs were making the jump back up to 5A after two seasons in 4A.

Despite being on the short side of the scoreboard for most the night, the young group of Bulldogs maintained their poise and continued to play hard, according to Head Coach Trent Taylor.

“Enterprise has a great football team and they’re going to do some great things this season,” Taylor said. “We learned a lot about ourselves tonight and we have to look at some things we can do to improve. But, I’m proud of the way our kids competed tonight.”

After taking the kickoff to start the game, Enterprise marched down the field and was threatening to score. But, Zerrick Jones, who had a good night on offense as well as special teams, came up with a big defensive play intercepting a pass about a yard-deep in the end zone, returning it to the 46-yard line, denying the Wildcats and kept the game scoreless early in the first quarter.

After a three-and-out for the Bulldogs, Enterprise would take the lead. The first play in the series went for about 11 yards, but the next play went backwards about 8 yards on a sack by Bulldog Quay Bedgood. After an encroachment penalty against AHS, Enterprise quarterback Mason Burkhardt made connection with Charles Hicks who avoided the Andalusia defenders for the long touchdown reception to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead after the extra point by Jose Segura.

Andalusia was facing another three-and-out on their next possession, but the coaching staff rolled the dice with a fake punt on their own 29 as C. Jay Likely took the ball for the needed yardage for a fresh set of downs. But, the as the period ended the Bulldogs were faced with longer fourth down yardage and began the second quarter with a punt to the Wildcats.

The Wildcats took the ball at their own 41-yard line and gained 25 yards on consecutive handoffs to Jose Morales. Jimmy White came up with a good defensive play for the Bulldogs, stopping a Wildcat runner at the line of scrimmage., but two plays later Burkhardt threw a dart to Malachi Reed for a 24-yard touchdown. The extra point made the score 14-0 with 9:26 remaining in the first half.

Andalusia got its first and only score of the game on the kickoff when Jones returned it 90-plus yards down the sideline to make the score 14-7 after the point-after conversion by Cobb Stewart.

The following drive for Enterprise ended with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Burkhardt to Cates Blackmon to lift the Wildcats back to a 14-point lead, 21-7. The score ended a drive that began at their own 32, following a holding penalty, and took over six minutes off the clock.

Enterprise would threaten again before the end of the half. A fumble on their own side of the field gave the Wildcats good field position, but the threat would be stopped at the 19-yard line when Jones picked off his second pass of the night, keeping the score at 21-7 at halftime.

While there were good moments both offensively and defensively for the young group of Bulldogs, all of the scoring in the second half belonged to the Wildcats. About midway through the third quarter Burkhardt found an open receiver for a long touchdown to make the score 28-7. They made the score 35-7 later in the third on an eight-yard run by Zion Grady.

Andalusia will look to get its first win of the season when they travel to Hillcrest-Evergreen to take on the 3A Jaguars on Friday, August 30.