CANDLER — The Enka football players hooted and hollered their way toward their sideline and first-year coach Jim Beatty after taking a knee in victory formation.
They were celebrating after kicking off a new era of Jets football with a 28-14 win over North Henderson (0-1) on Aug. 21 at home.
"They just want to win," Beatty said. "They don't care who's at the helm right now. They just want somebody to believe in them. We're trying to change things here at Enka. It's not the old Enka, it's the new Enka."
Beatty's first win with the Jets (1-0) came against North Henderson, the school he left this offseason, and coach Jake Sell, a former player and assistant of his.
The Jets took control in the first half with 48- and 35-yard touchdown runs by running
back Jaydyn McElreath and wide receiver Jake Gerolimatos, then leaned on its defense to keep the Knights at bay.
The Knights were shut out until they completed a 40-yard touchdown pass with five minutes left in the game.
"Our plan was to come in here, knock them in the mouth," said McElreath, who also plays linebacker.
Beatty said, "Defense played their butts off, lights out. Proud of our defensive coaches. We coached them up. We did a good job of hemming Parker Willis up."
Beatty is well known in Western North Carolina for having teams that play hard and physical football from his time at Roberson and North Henderson.
That has already begun to rub off on the Jets.
Running back/defensive end Tommy McKinney said, "He really motivates us to do better."
They held Willis, North Henderson's running back, to 69 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. The defensive line and linebacker units recorded three sacks and eight tackles for loss.
Their offensive line paved the way for running backs Tommy McKinney and McElreath to run for a combined 203 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries.
Beatty credits the team's quick buy-in due to its desire to win.
"They want to win," he said. "They bought in when I got hired. They did what we asked them to do in the weight room all spring, then (were) here all summer."
So far, so good for Enka.
Zachary Huber is a high school sports reporter for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him at zhuber@gannett.com or follow him on X @zacharyahuber.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: How Enka football started Jim Beatty era off on right foot vs. North Henderson
