The Whitewater Wildcats finally had the opportunity Thursday to get on the field and play against someone other than themselves, facing Heritage in a preseason game in Fayetteville.

Whitewater shined early against Heritage, scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter. It led 14-0 at halftime, and was looking to gain more experience while adding to its lead in the second half. But lighting struck just before the start of the second half, and the game was delayed for a half-hour.

The game never resumed due to the inclement weather.

First-year starting quarterback David Byrd made an instant impact for the Wildcats, throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Fleming on a post route with 9:20 left in the first quarter. It was Byrd's first pass of the game.

“David Byrd did a good job for us,” Whitewater coach Amos McCreary said. “He did a good job of leading the offense and coming in and throwing a touchdown on that first drive.”

Whitewater's second touchdown came with 3:08 remaining in the first quarter, when Jake Dixon snagged a punt out of the air after it had been blocked by a leaping Chris Asbury near Heritage's goal line and carried a Patriots player 6 yards into the end zone.

McCreary said, overall, there were plenty of positives for his team to build upon.

“I thought, for the first time out, with a lot of kids playing in new positions, we played pretty well,” McCreary said. “We moved the ball fairly well, especially on the first drive, and played defense, for the most part, pretty well.”

Besides Byrd (3-of-6, 36 yards), McCreary felt three players were impressive: fullback Collin Wooddy (10 carries, 43 yards) and linebackers Zack Mann (eight tackles) and Ryan Hildago (five tackles).