Unlike the iconic movie line in Apollo 13, Connor Houston came to the rescue for the Draughn defense, ending a threat by the visiting Greenville Hurricanes to tie the game by grasping an interception and sprinting 85 yards for a touchdown and a 21-6 lead.

The interception return was his second pick of the night while grasping a third-quarter touchdown reception as the Wildcats marched on to a 48-12 win, their first of the season after last week’s opening loss to Hunter Huss.

“Last week was tough; we were just ready to go this week,” said Houston, who had three interceptions last season as a junior.

The Wildcats started with a 14-0 lead after Kayden Lytle completed a 21-yard touchdown pass to Alex Wright and Marshall Brinkley ran in a two-yard touchdown run following Houston’s first interception.

The Hurricanes got on the board with a two-yard touchdown run by Micah Middleton but missed on the extra point to trail Draughn 14-6.

Disaster then seemed to strike the Wildcats with a lost fumble near midfield, and Greenville drove into the opposing red zone until Houston pulled off the rescuing play, pushing the Wildcats’ lead by two touchdowns.

Second-half scores for Draughn included Lytle completions to Sterling Radabaugh (32 yards) and Houston (37 yards), with Jamal Calloway cashing in on a 15-yard interception return.

Calloway also recovered a fumble to end a Hurricane drive near the end of the third quarter and Radabaugh added a fourth quarter short yardage touchdown run.

Mylton Lopez Garcia made six extra-point kicks for the Wildcats in his debut as the placekicker.

As Chris Powell earned his 41st win at Draughn, he still sees areas for improvement for this year’s Wildcats team.

“We still haven’t played all four quarters. We executed our game plan well, and we did have to make adjustments; we just got to make improvements to be successful.”

The Wildcats will be on the road for the next three weeks at county arch-rival East Burke and Chase to complete non-conference play and the Western Highlands 1A/2A Conference opener at Owen.