Florala had four turnovers in the first half and Houston County went on to beat the Wildcats 47-32 in their preseason jamboree Thursday night at Mathews Stadium at FHS.

After taking an early 7-0 lead, the Lions converted Florala’s first three fumbles into touchdowns to take a 27-0 lead with 45.2 seconds left in the first quarter.

“We’ve got a lot of stuff to work on,” FHS head football coach Bubba Nall said. “I saw some positive things.

“That’s uncharacteristic of us,” he said. “We did it. You can’t put your defense in a bad spot. We did it four times in the first half. We’ll get better at it.”

FHS got on board early in the second quarter when Austin West, who was the spark the Wildcats needed, rushed five yards for a touchdown at the 8:34 mark. Brandon Russell took the 2-point conversion in from a few yards out to make it a 27-8 game.

The Lions converted a 70-yard pass for a TD more than a minute later and took a 34-8 lead with 7:37 left in the first half.

After a 12-play, 75-yard drive, the Wildcats were back on the board when quarterback Kyle Price took it in from 20 yards. Price then connected with Ray Hall for the conversion and FHS trailed 34-16.

The Lions struck again on a pass for 75 yards and a score on their first possession of play to make it 41-16.

Florala’s fourth turnover came with time ticking away in the second quarter.

Price looked for a receiver on the right side of the field, but found a Lions defender instead for an interception.

Florala got off to a better start in the second half when Price scored from 16 yards out. West punched the conversion in and the Wildcats trailed a respectable 17 points.

HCHS and FHS got three and outs on the next two drives.

A bright spot of the night came when the back ups and junior varsity squads hit the field.

Taveous Collins helped drive the team down the field on hand offs from Luke Peters. Peters converted a touchdown later on after a fumble by Collins to cut the lead to 41-32.

“I was proud to see them battle back in the scond half,” Nall said. “We could’ve easily held our heads down in the second half, but we didn’t. Hopefully, what we saw in the second half we’ll see from now on from the start.”

HCHS added a late touchdown with the clock at zero on a 1-yard rush.

Florala hosts Central Hayneville next week for its season opener.