FERRUM -- Four turnovers and an inexperienced secondary resulted in another season-opening loss for Ferrum College.

Daniel Booher threw three touchdown passes to lead Emory & Henry to a 26-21 victory over its longtime rival Saturday at Adams Stadium.

Ferrum lost its opener for the third straight year and for the fourth time in five years.

It was the second straight year Ferrum opened with a loss to the Wasps (1-0). But the Panthers were at least more encouraged by their play Saturday than they were after last year's 50-7 debacle.

"We would've won today, but we just turned the ball over too much," said Ferrum halfback Mike Vann, who ran for 70 yards and one touchdown.

Vann had a particularly costly turnover.

Down 13-7 in the third quarter, Ferrum was at its own 6-yard line. According to coach Dave Davis, the play was supposed to be a safe handoff to the fullback. But Davis said the offense misunderstood the signal as a toss sweep.

"We signaled in '46' and they ran '6,'" Davis said.

Vann was hit by Bryan Furr as he took the quick toss from Matt Dobson. Vann fumbled, and defensive end Matt Baldwin picked up the ball at the FC 2 and ran it in to extend the E&H lead to 19-7.

"Furr ... laid him out," Baldwin said. "[Vann] was in a pretty helpless position."

Salem graduate Joey Daniels picked off two passes for the Wasps, including one that paved the way for a touchdown.

Daniels intercepted a Dobson pass and returned it 23 yards to the FC 22. Six plays later, Josh Castle hauled in a 4-yard pass after juggling it in the end zone to give the Wasps a 26-7 cushion with 7:31 to go.

Ferrum then went to a spread formation, and backup quarterback Marcus Mayo (Rockbridge County) led the team on two late TD drives.

"Coach helped me out, ... spreading it out," Mayo said.

As expected, Ferrum used both Dobson and Mayo throughout the game. Each threw an interception, but Dobson also lost a fumble in E&H territory. Dobson completed just one pass, while Mayo was the QB on all three touchdown drives.

Davis was excited by the play of Mayo, a sophomore who was the 2006-07 Timesland male athlete of the year. Mayo completed 11 of 21 passes for 173 yards and one TD. He also ran for a touchdown.

"Mayo is an athlete that can make some plays," Davis said. "Marcus, with his feet, bought us some time and hit the people when they were open."

Davis was less thrilled with his inexperienced secondary. E&H receiver Greg Swafford was wide-open on both of Booher's first-half TD passes.

The Panthers were in the wrong coverage both times, said safety Zack Brown.

"We messed up," Brown said. "We made too many mistakes."

Ferrum had to replace all five of last year's starting defensive backs. The first-string and second-string cornerbacks Saturday were freshmen, and one of the three starting safeties was a junior-college transfer. Of the 10 defensive backs on the two-deep, only three had played for the Ferrum defense last year.

"We've got a ways to go with that secondary," Davis said.

Ferrum also hurt itself with 10 penalties.

It was a win to savor for the Wasps, who ended last year on a five-game skid.

"We needed that," Swafford said.

E&H 7 6 6 7 -- 26

Ferrum 7 0 0 14 -- 21

First quarter

E&H -- Swafford 40 pass from Booher (Hawk kick)

FC -- Mayo 3 run (Slappey kick)

Second quarter

E&H -- Swafford 12 pass from Booher (Kick blocked)

Third quarter

E&H -- Baldwin 2 fumble return (Pass failed)

Fourth quarter

E&H -- Castle 4 pass from Booher (Hawk kick)

FC -- Vann 21 run (Slappey kick)

FC-- Jackson 12 pass from Mayo (Slappey kick)

E&H FC

First downs 14 18

Yards rushing 166 186

Passes C-A-I 12-21-1 12-27-2

Yards passing 111 161

Penalties-yards 6-93 10-130

Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-2

Punts-average 5-29 5-45

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- E&H, Richardson 8-55, Ringstaff 21-44, Bush 3-40, Booher 4-19, Jennings 7-10, Team 1-(-2); Ferrum, Vann 8-70, Dobson 6-34, Lucas 7-29, Patterson 3-23, Mayo 9-18, R. Banks 3-10, Harris 1-2

PASSING -- E&H, Booher 12-21-1-111; Ferrum, Dobson 1-6-1-(-12), Mayo 11-21-1-173

RECEIVING -- E&H, Swafford 5-68, Ringstaff 2-15, Bush 2-15, Keene 1-5, Castle 1-4, Mettinger 1-4; Ferrum, Johnson 4-80, Tibbs 3-56, Jackson 2-25, Vann 2-12, Whitney 1-(-12).