ENTERPRISE — It was a tale of two halves for Enterprise in a 36-25 loss to Lumberton Friday night. At halftime, Enterprise led 19-7 but was unable to get the offense going in the second half coupled with a few missed tackles, costly penalties and blown coverages. 

Enterprise opened the scoring when Landon McNickles scored on a 25 yard rushing touchdown after eluding a swarm of tacklers. Lumberton trailed 7-0 with 7:23 in the first quarter. The Panthers struck right back at the end of the first quarter scoring on a two yard rush to tie it up 7-7.

In the second quarter, Enterprise’s senior running back Ayden “Revvy,” Arevalo scored on a two yard touchdown rush. A bad snap on the PAT led to the holder picking up the ball and scrambling. Enterprise failed to add the extra point and led by just 6 points with 6:44 left in the second quarter. 

Arevalo scored again on a three yard rushing touchdown. Enterprise went for two and did not get it. With 1:39 left in the second quarter, Enterprise led 19-7 over Lumberton. 

Lumberton opened the scoring in the second half by scoring on a 50 yard touchdown rush with several missed tackles to close Enterprise’s lead to 19-14 with 8:33 left in the third quarter. Lumberton took the lead on a 22 yard touchdown pass to go up 22-19 with 4:30 in the third quarter with a busted coverage. Heads began to hang when Lumberton took the lead. Arevalo said things went a little wrong in the second half. 

“We just got in our own heads. We had it in our hands and let it slip,” Arevalo said. 

The Panthers scored again in the fourth quarter on a 35 yard touchdown pass. Lumberton scored again on a 15 yard touchdown rush with 5:48 left in the fourth quarter. McNickles scored on a 15 yard touchdown run to close the gap but it was a little too late. Enterprise failed to recover an onside kick with 2:11 in the fourth quarter and Lumberton ran the clock out. 

The loss drops Enterprise to a 4-2 record (0-1 in district) while Lumberton improves to 4-2 (1-0 in district). Enterprise will play at Resurrection next week. 

“We will learn from it. It was a close game but in the second half we lost it and we beat ourselves,” Arevalo said. “We just have to move on. We are expecting to win and we gotta do what we gotta do to get the win next week. We learned tonight we could compete with everyone.”

Enterprise can still host a playoff game and be the number 2 seed if they take care of business. The goal is very clear for Head Coach Trey Woodard’s team. He said if they can host a playoff football game it would make school history. 

Senior leader Parker Harris reminded the team after the game they just needed to move on past the loss and get back to work. Woodard told the team success starts with hard work Monday through Thursday just like the previous weeks. 

Enterprise will need to control the ball better and control themselves in the next matchup. Woodard mentioned it on the sidelines and to the team that six bad plays on defense were the difference maker Friday night. 

He also wanted to highlight some positives for the group. The loss was their most complete game of the season and Woodard was happy his team was upset by the loss. Work to clean up mistakes will start Monday. 

“We can’t just rely on big plays from big players. We have a system and we have to do what we are taught and do it right,” Arevalo said. 

Jaden Cothern, the brother of Tyler Cothern who died in a car wreck last week, played in the game. He suffered a lower body injury late in the first half and was carried off the field by his teammates at halftime. Jaden remained on the sidelines in full uniform in the second half. 

Arevalo said the team is close like brothers. Many of them have known each other since kindergarten.

“(Losing Tyler) had a big impact. It was our teammate and our teammate’s little brother,” Arevalo said. “We have to be there for him.”