Homecoming 2012 brought out the best in the Loyd Star Hornets. They hustled to a 38-20 Friday night triumph over the Enterprise Yellow Jackets in what was known as the Sting Bowl before this season but was renamed the Hunger Bowl by a grizzled scribe.

     Both winless teams were starving for victory. The Hornets satisfied themselves and presented Homecoming Queen Maggie Redd with a victory on a chilly night on William E. “Sambo” Smith Field.

     “It feels pretty dang good,” smiled Loyd Star quarterback Seth Farmer. when asked about the win. His team raised their record to 1-7 overall and 1-3 in the Region 6-2A race. Enterprise (0-10, 0-4) is still searching for that elusive victory.

     “It was our homecoming game and it was a rivalry game,” said Farmer. “Our team got a little more fired up tonight.”

     Farmer’s 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Branden Canny gave the home team a 26-0 lead just 62 seconds into the third quarter.

     “My offensive line blocked good and I had time to throw,” said Farmer. “Branden made a good catch,” behind Enterprise defenders and trotted across the goal line.

     Bradley Archer’s 2-yard plunge put the Hornets up 32-zip with 1:32 left in the third quarter.  Loyd Star coach Randall Huffman mercifully began clearing his bench, inserting several freshmen who had been promoted after the junior high season was completed.

     “We were pretty solid on both sides of the ball,” said Huffman. “We are a young team and we executed well in the second half.”

     Huffman burned several timeouts to heatedly debate several calls made by the officials; all to no avail.

     In the first half, the Hornets were powered by sophomore running back Peyton Flowers who finished the game with 173 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on runs of 68 and 61 yards down the right sidelines. He carried once for 14 yards in the second half.

     Brett Calcote followed Flowers with 10 carries for 69 yards and 1 TD.

     Enterprise, under the direction of first-year coach Brooks Burns, came to life in the fourth quarter. Tailback Tomas Newman rushed for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns, the last TD coming with 59 seconds left in the game. Fullback Matt Greer powered 7 yards for an earlier score.

     Enterprise attempted another onside kickoff  but it backfired. La’Treall Smith scooped up the ball and rumbled 55 yards to paydirt.

     Burns, the fourth head coach in 4 years at Enterprise, said his team picked up its intensity in the fourth quarter.  “We had a sense of urgency in the fourth quarter. We need to do that all four quarters.”

     His Jackets lost 3, first-half fumbles and each of them led to Hornet TDs. Nick Smith recovered 2 fumbles and Logan Smith covered the other miscue.

     “Loyd Star played hard and we gave them a lot of help the first half,” said Burns. “We mishandled snaps and handoffs.”

     On defense, the Hornets were led by Flowers who made 6 solo tackles and 5 assists from his linebacker position. Cameron Smith had 6 solos and 2 assists. Brock Ezell had 5 solos and 4 assists.