Hornets' defense stings Cubs

Enterprise took advantage of eight turnovers to shut out Anderson 21-0 at the Hornets Nest on Friday.

Anderson fumbled six of its seven times in the first half and threw a late interception in the fourth quarter to drop its first season opener since 2007.

“Our defense did a great job at getting after the ball carrier,” Enterprise coach Darren Trueblood said. “They didn’t give us those balls, our guys took it. We played hard all game.”

The Hornet defense wasn’t the only highlight of the night. Hornet quarterback Alex Henderson was a dual threat throwing 6-of-8 for 90 yards and a touchdown and racked up 85 yards on 14 carries and two scores. He had touchdown runs of 2 and 16 yards.

Hornet senior receiver Anthony Cavalli had 85 yards on three catches, including a 64-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter to put Enterprise up 12-0. He caught the two-point conversion on the point after to make it 14-0.

However, Anderson missed key opportunities to put points on the board. Six times they had the ball inside the Hornets' 25-yard line, but could not punch the ball in.

"We moved the ball up and down the field really well," said Anderson coach Lance Gosch. "We just shot ourselves in the foot over and over again with all the fumbles."

The Cub's fumbled on every possession in the first half. Anderson quarterback Casey Meyer fumbled the first two times, the first on a bobbled snap and the second on on the two-yard line in an effort to stretch to the goal line. That would have tied the game at 6-apiece.

After Henderson hooked up with Cavalli for the long score, the Anderson showed life when backup quarterback Garrett Greenhaw faked the field goal and ran to the right side for 10 yards. Two plays later, Cubs' senior running back Tyler Edwards fumbled the ball on the five-yard line with 27 seconds left in the first half.

“We absolutely can not turn the ball over eight times if we expect to win a game,” Gosch said. “We played hard but can’t make those kinds of mistakes.”

The Hornets began the second half with a four-play, 55-yard drive. Jared May had a 24-yard run that set up Henderson's 16-yard touchdown run to make it 21-0. May finished with 10 carries for 59 yards.

The Cubs' got a big play late in the fourth quarter when Greenhaw completed at 21-yard pass to Brandt Ransom to put Anderson in the red zone. But two plays later, Hornets' junior defensive tackle Joe Dempsey hit Greenhaw while he was throwing, forcing him to throw an interception into the hands of Stephen Weisfield.

Anderson's Edwards had 10 carries for 60 yards but had trouble hanging onto the ball, fumbling three times.

Quarterback Casey Meyer completed four-of-10 passes for 49 yards and finished with eight carries for 33 yards.

The win improves Enterprise coach Trueblood's record to 9-0 over Anderson. And overall, he was proud of the way his players performed.

“We grew up a little bit and played with a lot of spirit and intensity out there but they (Anderson) never went away,” Trueblood said. “They’re a lot better than people think. (Anderson coach) Lance (Gosch) really knows how to get his guys to show up and play ball.”