For the third time in as many weeks, last Friday night’s contest wasn’t the best of performances, but still ended up in a blowout victory for the Winona Christian Stars football program.
Coach Ashley Kuhn’s group was able to work around three turnovers, scoring 28 first-half points en route to a 42-0 win over Clinton Christian Academy at home.
With the victory, the Stars improve to 3-0 on the season.
“The final score was 42-0, but it was an ugly game,” Kuhn said. “For the third game in a row, it started out sloppy with turnovers. Two of the turnovers took place on our first two drives. That’s an area that we are concerned about moving forward – it’s an area that we need to get fixed. I thought we played well defensively and on special teams.”
Winona Christian School relied more on the passing game than they have at any point this season. Sophomore quarterback Zack Bledsoe was 10-of-16 through the air for 143 yards and three touchdowns to go with one interception. Kuhn said the Clinton Christian defensive scheme forced the Stars to pass more than run.
“It was more of what they were doing on defense than by design,” he said. “They were playing man-to-man coverage and gave us some opportunities in the passing game. They loaded up the line of scrimmage trying to stop the run.”
The Stars got out top early scoring on their third possession of the game as senior John Connor Greene hauled in a 30-yard scoring pass from Bledsoe. Junior Alston Crouch kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.
Winona Christian exploded for three touchdowns – two of the coming through the air – before heading into the locker room at intermission. Junior Austin Horne had an 8-yard scoring reception from Bledsoe to make it 14-0, following the Crouch extra point. Bledsoe added a 1-yard scoring run to go with a Crouch extra point, making it 21-0. The second quarter scoring ended with Bledsoe hooking up with junior Cale Sproles on a 40-yard touchdown pass. Crouch’s extra point made it 28-0 at halftime.
In the second half, the Stars used a 2-yard run from sophomore Bryson McKnight and 1-yard run from junior Hunter Land to increase their lead. Crouch was perfect on the extra points making the final score 42-0.
Statistically speaking, Greene led the receiving corps with four receptions for 54 yards and a touchdown. Horne chipped in four receptions for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Senior Will Irwin was held out of the end zone, running for 101 yards on 21 carries.
Defensively, senior Hunter Self led WCS with 6 tackles, 5 assists and 2 tackles for losses. Classmate Miles Bailey recorded 3 tackles and 3 assists.
The Stars take to the road Friday night traveling to Madden to face Leake Academy.
“Leake Academy is an outstanding football team on both sides of the ball,” Kuhn concluded. “We are going to have to play well and minimize the mistakes.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
