Winona broke open a close game with two fourth quarter touchdowns on its way to a 33-23 victory over previously unbeaten Nanih Waiya. It was a reversal of last year when Nanih Waiya beat the Tigers 48-28 on its way to the 1A championship game.
The loss ended Nanih Waiya's 25-game regular season winning streak.
“They're a good football team,” Winona coach Joey Tompkins said. “We kind of wore them down in the second half, which is what I thought would happen.”
Winona led 20-17 after three quarters, then stretched the lead to 33-17 with five minutes left on TD runs of 46 yards by quarterback An'darius Coffey and 21 yards by Blake Cooper.
Nanih Waiya scored on a 39-yard pass from Donovan Turner to Deon Hickman with minute left. The Warriors went for two to try to make it a one possession game, but the Tiger defense stopped the run.
Nanih Waiya led 14-13 at the half on a TD run by Turner and an 84-yard kickoff return by Austin Sanders. Coffey threw a 47-yard TD pass to Chris Olton and scored on a one-yard run for the Tigers.
Coffey scored again on a 5-yard run in the third quarter to give Winona the lead. Jake Knight booted a 27-yard field goal for Nanih Waiya.
In accounting for four TDs, Coffey completed 9 of 20 passes for 145 yards, with no interceptions, and carried 17 times for 120 yards. Jay Lofton also went over the century mark with six carries for 109 yards. Olton had five receptions for 107 yards.
Winona finished with 437 yards, 292 on the ground and 145 through the air. Nanih Waiya had 270 yards, led by Turner, who was 8 of 13 passing for 101 yards and carried 10 times for 41. Shia Moore ran 24 times for 91 yards.
Defensively, the Tigers were led by linebacker Jalen Campbell with eight tackles. Saveon Gross, Dorian Curry and Jadarius Thomas had six tackles each.
“We didn't turn the ball over, which is a plus,” Tompkins said. “That's one of our goals each week, to win the turnover battle.” The Tiger won that battle on a fumble caused by Curry and recovered by Robert McMath. It was the second game in a row that Winona did not have a turnover while recovering a fumble.
The one drawback was giving up a kickoff return for a touchdown for the second week in a row. Choctaw County's only score in a 33-7 Winona victory was an 85-yard return of the opening kickoff.
“That's something we have to get better at,” Tompkins said.
Now 3-0, Winona will begin Region 5-3A competition Friday with a road game against defending region champion Forest, a team that reached the third round of the playoffs a year ago.
“They're really big up front on both sides of the ball,” Tompkins said. “We're going to have our hands full.”
Forest is 2-1 with wins over New Hope and Kosciusko, two 4A schools, and a 45-7 loss last week to Jackson Prep. The Bearcats are led by senior running back Jacob Brooks, who ran for 200 yards and two TDs against New Hope.
