WINDSOR – It was the best of times…it was the worst of times.

Despite flashes of good play, Bertie High School got their 2008 varsity football season off on the wrong foot here last (Friday) night where visiting Wilson Hunt scored twice off Falcon turnovers and handed the home team a 37-14 loss in the process.

Adding to Bertie’s misery was the fact that they lost senior middle linebacker Raymond Hooker to injury in the second quarter with his club down by only six points (12-6). The extent of Hooker’s injury is unknown, but he was transported to the hospital.

Minus the turnovers, Bertie played Hunt fairly evenly as the visitors held a slim 238-203 edge in total yards. But other than an early 6-6 tie, Bertie could never put together a string of consistent drives.

The visitors grabbed the lead for-keeps at the 1:41 mark of the first quarter thanks to a 25-yard TD pass from Tyrel Vinson to Jordan White. That scoring strike capped 75-yard, nine-play drive and staked Hunt to a 12-6 lead after the two-point conversion run failed.

After the Falcons stopped a Hunt drive with an interception by Darius Wesson at his own 16 yardline, Bertie gave the ball right back when, two plays later, Caleb Bass picked off a Falcon aerial and ran 20 yards untouched to paydirt. Coupled with Robert Schick’s PAT, Hunt stretched its lead to 19-6 with 9:47 left in the second quarter.

Hunt added one more first-half score when Tyrell Applewhite darted 15 yards to the endzone, capped a four-play, 50-yard drive. The PAT failed, but the Warriors held a 25-6 halftime lead.

Bertie didn’t help its own effort in the third quarter where the Falcons lost the handle during a punt return and Hunt’s Jake Strickland recovered the loose pigskin in the endzone for 31-6 lead at the 8:47 mark of the period.

Both teams found the endzone in the fourth quarter. Hunt ended their offensive night with Vinson’s 19-yard scoring run with 7:52 left in the contest.

Bertie answered on the game’s next possession, driving 73 yards in 12 plays capped by Keon Moore’s 2-yard scoring run with 1:37 remaining. Torrence Mourning added the conversion run to round-up the scoring.

Mourning was the game’s leading rusher, toting the pigskin 26 times for 101 yards.

Both teams scored on their opening possessions.

Hunt took the game’s opening kick-off and set sail on a seven-play, 72-yard march that ended with Vinson’s 20-yard TD pass to White at the 8:49 mark of the first quarter.

Bertie came right back and drove 62 yards in seven plays. The Falcons knotted the game at 6-6 when Moore and Wesson connected on an 18-yard TD pass with 5:29 left in the opening period.

Bertie (0-1) hosts Greenville Rose at 7:30 p.m. in their next outing (Friday, Aug. 29).