ETHEL – The Enterprise Yellow Jackets snapped a soul-crushing, 39-game losing streak Friday night with a 38-28 win over Ethel.

“Our kids left everything on the field tonight,” said Enterprise coach Brooks Burns. “I challenged them before the game that no matter what the scoreboard said after the game, we will leave feeling like you deserved to win. And they did. I’ve never been so proud of, and for, a group of kids. That was the first high school win at Enterprise for every kid on that team, and as bad as that sounds, that’s special. They’ll always remember that. I want to especially thank our fans for traveling three hours to get to Ethel. I don’t know how many we had but the visitor’s stands were packed and they were loud and that means the world to those kids. Coaches Adams, King, and Boyte did a great job all week of getting the guys prepared and it paid off for them. We didn’t have any injuries and I just give all praise and glory to God.”

In the first quarter, the Jackets quickly jumped on the Tigers as Tanner Waldrop scored a rushing touchdown to give Enterprise the lead at 6-0. Marvin Butler punched in the two-point conversion to increase the Jackets’ lead to 8-0.

In the second quarter, the Jackets added another touchdown when Jontavious Smith cashed in a rushing touchdown to give Enterprise a 14-0 lead with 11:58 remaining.

The Tigers roared back with two late touchdowns in the second quarter to tie Enterprise at 14-all with 26 second left in the half.

Enterprise answered Ethel’s challenge with a late score to regain the lead when Zack Hodges sprinted in a rushing touchdown and Butler rushed in the 2-point conversion to end the half leading 22-14.

In the third quarter, Enterprise and Ethel traded scores with the Jackets striking first with a Tanner Waldrop rushing touchdown and Butler’s 2-point conversion to gain a 30-14 lead.

Ethel cut down Enterprise’s lead with a touchdown run with 4:18 remaining. After three quarters of action, the Jackets were up 29-20.

In the final frame, the Jackets scored on a Zack Hodges run with 6:40 remaining and Butler ran in another 2-point conversion to give Enterprise a 38-20 lead.

The Tigers would score their final points of the game with 4:41 left on a rushing touchdown.

Offensively, the Jackets were led on the ground by Tanner Waldrop with 145 yards rushing. Marvin Butler contributed 71 yards rushing. Braxton Thompson rushed for 39 yards and Zach Hodges had 31 yards,

Defensively, Thompson directed the Jackets with nine tackles. Austin Boyte provided eight stops and Brant White had six tackles. Butler intercepted a pass and returned it 50 yards.

The Jackets (1-0) return home to host their Lincoln County rivals, the Bogue Chitto Bobcats, for a big contest at Harry Cole Field. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Thursday.