KILGORE - With its offense barely able to get on to the field, Mount Enterprise's defense kept the Wildcats in the game.

Time and time and time again.

The Wildcats forced a pair of turnovers, withstood three Cushing drives into the red zone in the first half and pitched a shutout.

The end result was a season-opening 34-0 victory over the Bearkats at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.

Cushing used 16 plays to move the ball inside the Wildcats 5-yard line on its initial possession of the game.

But the drive stalled when quarterback Nick Reeves was tackled by a host of Wildcats just inside the 1-yard line on fourth down.

On the second play following the turnover, Mount Enterprise all-state running back Kevin Pope broke a play to the outside and went 96 yards for an apparent score.

But the touchdown was nullified by a penalty and Mount Enterprise eventually turned the ball on a fumble a couple of plays later.

Cushing took over at the Wildcats 13-yard line, but fumbled on one play and went backwards on another before turning the ball over on downs at the 10-yard line.

After Mount Enterprise scored its first touchdown, Cushing drove to the Wildcats 19-yard line.

But Pope stopped Kelon Fitzgerald for a 5-yard loss on second down and the Bearkats turned the ball over after two incomplete passes.

Three plays later Mount Enterprise quarterback Larry Solomon connected with Grant Grubbs on an 83-yard scoring strike to make it 14-0 after Solomon ran in the 2-point conversion.

Mount Enterprise would add another score later in the half and put the game away with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

For the game, the Wildcats defense allowed 179 yards on 47 offensive plays.

“The defense took care of us tonight until the offense got going,” said Mount Enterprise assistant coach Scott Holzhauer. “Typically, the offense gets all the notoriety, but it was good to see the defense step up.”

Along with six tackles behind the line of scrimmage, Pope forced a fumble.

Dylan Owens and Taylor Gill each forced fumbles and Owens and River Grounds recovered one each.

Prince Hall, Grubbs, Shannon Davis and Chance Young were credited with pass breakups in the game.

“The defensive stands (early) gave us a lot of confidence,” Holzhauer said.

Pope finished with 176 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries despite having the 96-yarder wiped out by penalty.

He had a 52-yard run to get the Wildcats out of the shadow of their own end zone on the first play of the second quarter and Solomon connected with Shannon Davis on a 43-yard touchdown pass on the next play.

Pope added runs of 18, 23 and 39 in the second half.

“After the slow start, I started yelling at some of the players and that got them fired up,” he said. “We were thinking about (Head Coach) Louie Johnson tonight. We wanted to win one for him.”

Johnson missed the game due to an illness and Holzhauer was filling in his position for the night.

Solomon completed 8 of 10 passes for 198 yards. He had a 19-yard scoring run for the Wildcats' final points of the night and also hooked up with Davis on a 20-yard scoring strike.

Davis finished with four catches for 77 yards while Grubbs had three for 115. The duo combined for three touchdowns.

The game was originally scheduled to be played in Cushing, but was moved to Kilgore because the Bearkats' new field hasn't been finished.

That was one of the major changes for the teams Friday.

The other was the absence of Johnson.

The Wildcats had trouble solving Holzhauer's former team early.

The Wildcats ran just 15 plays in the first half, compared to 37 for Cushing, and the contest was tied 0-0 after the first quarter.

“I don't know if the slow start was due to us thinking about Coach Johnson or just coming in very anxious,” Holzhauer said. “But, you also have to give credit to Cushing. It came out strong to start the game.”