Winona Christian football coach Junior Graham didn’t necessarily like playing back-to-back division games this early in the season.
But now that the Stars came through that stretch with two wins and stand atop the division standings, he isn’t complaining.
The Stars used a punishing rushing attack and took a 36-10 division win over Oak Hill on Friday night.
Winona Christian is now 3-1 on the season but more importantly 2-0 halfway through its District 1-AA schedule.
“It was a big division win,” Graham said. “We thought we played our cleanest game of the season so far on defense. The kids are starting to grasp what we are trying to do over there. We have moved some kids around since the first scrimmage. But they all played the same position for back to back games and it showed on Friday night.”
The Stars had 422 yards of total offense as they rushed for 318 and threw for another 104 yards.
“Offensively, we have gotten a lot of production out of our running backs,” Graham said. “Both fullbacks had over 70 yards apiece, and Corley Goss had a big 64-yard run. We spread the ball around and threw the ball down the field. It was our most complete ball game.”
Just two plays into the game, the Stars got a big play as Ben Pinkard recovered an Oak Hill fumble. From there, the Stars went 54 yards in six plays as Goss scored on a 14-yard touchdown run for an early 6-0 lead.
After turning Oak Hill over on downs, the Stars went right back to work as they drove 62 yards on five plays as Latham Hill hit Dalton Wiggins on a 27-yard touchdown pass for a 12-0 lead.
Oak Hill got on the board with a 30-yard field goal to make the score 12-3. But Winona Christian answered right back. Goss returned the ensuing kick 75 yards, and Thomas Costilow scored on a 5-yard run for an 18-3 lead.
The Stars added one more first-half score as Costilow scored on a 64-yard run to lead 24-3 at the half.
“I think our offensive line played one of their better games,” Graham said. “I think that is evident by our success running the football. I thought our defensive line played well. We moved Ben Pinkard down to our one-tech and he played really well. He was in the backfield all night and very disruptive. Sometimes it takes a while to get everybody in the right place.”
In the second half, the Stars wasted little time getting back on the board as Goss finished off a 71-yard drive with a 56-yard run for a 30-3 lead.
Oak Hill got on a board as they recovered a Winona fumble at the 5. But Winona answered with a 4-yard run by Goss with 4:33 left in the game.
Hill was 6-of-8 passing for 104 yards and Goss led the rushing effort with 92 yards on eight carries.
Oak Hill had just 94 yards of total offense with 79 rushing and 15 passing.
The Stars will go for their fourth straight win as they travel to Park Place Friday night.
The homestanding Crusaders enter the game with a 2-2 record with wins over Glenbrook (48-31) and Union Christian (31-28). Their two losses have come to Bowling Green (54-0) and Clinton Christian (24-14).
"They are going to present us with some size issues,” Graham said. “They have some big kids and have a slot receiver that can really run. He returned two kickoffs against us last year. They are going to spread us out and their quarterback is solid. Their size will give us problems on the offensive side of the football.”
Last year, Winona Christian managed a 16-14 win over Park Place.
