With a roster filled with his senior classmates, Enterprise quarterback Landon McNickles knows he does not have to make a perfect play every time he touches the ball for his team to win.

What McNickles does have to do is make those key plays, the ones that only he can create with his arm or legs, when the team needs them the most.

On Friday at Bogue Chitto, McNickles was there when his teammates needed him as the MHSAA 1A Yellow Jackets (3-0) came back from a one-point halftime deficit to beat their 2A rival Bobcats (1-2) 26-13.

The win was the first for the Jackets over the Cats since EAC beat BC 14-6 in 2016.

The 3-0 start for Enterprise is the first three-game winning streak to begin a season for the Jackets since 2015.

Enterprise opened this season with a win over Loyd Star and with the victory over Bogue Chitto, it’s the first time for Enterprise to beat the Hornets and the Bobcats in the same year since 2002.

With 14 seniors on the roster, the Yellow Jackets were the favored team on Friday, but found a stiff challenge from a young group of Bobcats.

Bogue Chitto gift-wrapped the first score of the game with a fumble on their own 1-yard line after a Prewitt Falvey punt for Enterprise had been downed at the BC 5-yard line.

Senior running back Ayden Arevalo crashed in from the 1-yard line and after Falvey missed the PAT kick, EAC led 6-0 with 8:42 left in the opening quarter.

Bogue Chitto sophomore Jayden Poole has already established himself as a dynamic player with the ball in his hands and his ability to run was front and center on the first Bobcat touchdown of the game.

BC sophomore quarterback Alex-Michael Roberts, a first year starter, rolled out to his right on the drive after Enterprise got on the board. Poole was running ahead of him, looking like he was ready to block the nearest defensive back.

Roberts took the ball from a tucked position and flicked out a quick dart that Poole looked back to catch. When his head, feet and shoulders got turned toward the Bogue Chitto River, Pooleturned on the afterburners to knife through the middle of the field for a 75-yard touchdown catch.

Freshman kicker Brentley Stump knocked through the extra point to put BC up 7-6, just one minute after the Jackets scored first.

That score held for the entire second quarter, although both teams had chances. Poole intercepted a McNickles pass and looked like he might return it all the way but was run down by a couple EAC receivers. The subsequent drive went backwards and ended with a turnover on downs by the home team.

You could hear Enterprise head coach Trey Woodard yelling encouragement to his team in the first half.

Woodard started with, “wake up” and “lock in.” He then moved on to “settle down” and “play smart” as the second quarter ticked away. The Jackets looked frustrated as they went to their halftime huddle.

Part of what bummed everyone out was that senior wideout Daylan Barden had gone to the bench in the first half and was out for the rest of the game with an injury for Enterprise.

Other than McNickles finding senior tight end Parker Harris on a big gain, the Yellow Jacket offense didn’t create many positive yards in the first half.

“Coach Woodard really got on us to keep our blocks until the whistle,” said Magee of Woodard’s halftime talk. “We’re one of the biggest offensive lines in 1A and there is no reason we can’t run counter and put our hands on guys and move them.”

The opening drive of the second half was a chance for linemen like 6-foot-3, 265-pound Magee and senior Jaden Cothern (6-foot-5, 265-pounds) and senior Eli Fuller (6-foot, 275-pounds) and senior Preston Mooneyham (6-foot-3, 320-pounds) and senior Prewitt Falvey (6-foot, 280-pounds) and sophomore Michael Carter (6-foot-2, 260-pounds) to establish the run game.

EAC crossed midfield on a long gain by junior wideout AJ Raiford via a screen. Two big gains later on the ground by McNickles ended with his 13-yard touchdown run that put Enterprise up 12-7 just three minutes into the third quarter.

Like they did in the first quarter, Bogue Chitto immediately responded. Poole caught a screen from Roberts and an Enterprise defender grabbed him by the waist, rode him around like a merry-go-round, and tried to slam Poole to the ground.

Poole rode that momentum forward, kept his feet, and found himself shoved past the linebackers and safeties of the Enterprise defense. His 75-yard touchdown catch put BC back ahead 13-12 with 8:05 left in the third quarter.

The Yellow Jackets lost some close games last season, including a two-point defeat at home to Bogue Chitto. On Friday, they closed the game with the type of composure that they had to learn from experience.

They weren’t perfect, there were some silly penalties still committed, but you could see them wanting to close the game out after McNickles created the most explosive play of the night to put EAC back up.

McNickles took the ball round the right side of his line on a designed run, waited for a hole to form, and then shot through it down the home sideline. Two Bogue Chitto defenders ran him down at the 3-yard line, but he hesitated, spun, and then pushed in for a 72-yard touchdown run.

The 2-point attempt was no good and Enterprise grabbed an 18-13 lead and an advantage they’d not surrender again.

McNickles ran in for another rushing touchdown, this one from the 8-yard line, to provide the final score of the game with 6:36 remaining in the fourth quarter. Senior Michael Magee then scored on the 2-point conversion run to finish the scoring.

Bogue Chitto and first year head coach BJ Smithhart had opportunities to score in the second half that fell just out of reach. Two plays especially, a pass on a reverse and a pass on a double reverse, were almost broken open by the Bobcats as they looked for senior wide receiver Noah Magee deep.

The Enterprise defense had plenty of guys that helped hold their opponents to single score in the second half. Linebacker Payton Kyzar, defensive lineman R’Jayvion Haygood, and senior lineman Jamie Fulgham were guys that heard their names called often by public address announcer Mickey Myers along with linebacker Jonathan McNickles.

Of that senior class, there wasn’t a man in it for the Yellow Jackets that didn’t help get the win.

“Just everybody, it took everybody and that’s what I’m most proud of,” said Woodard. “It’s a special group of guys in this senior class.”

 EAC hosts Leake County next week. Bogue Chitto is back at home hosting Ethel for homecoming next week.