The Winona Christian School Stars will travel to Greenville Friday night to take on the St. Joseph Fight Irish in the first round of the MAIS playoffs.
Stars Head Coach Junior Graham said the MAIS playoffs are made up of the top 16 power points teams on a bracket system.
“We just play it out now,” Graham said. “From this point on, if you lose you go home.”
As for Friday night’s matchup, Graham said the Stars are playing one of the better teams in the bracket.
“They lost a heartbreaker last Friday and dropped from a number one seed to a number six seed,” Graham said.
According to Graham, the Stars have been working hard this week to prepare for Friday’s game.
“Our kids are excited,” Graham said. “They feel like they can compete in the ballgame. They know they have to win to stay in it, so they have that sense of urgency.”
Last Friday, the Stars, now 4-6 on the season and 2-3 in conference play, finished the regular season on the road with a loss to the Winston Academy Patriots, 36-4.
The Patriots scored first by capitalizing on an interception in the first quarter, and followed that scoring drive with an on-side kick which the Patriots recovered on the Stars’ 39 yard line. A few plays later, Winston put six more points on the board, bringing the score to 14-0.
Winona answered with a one-yard run by Latham Hill. The PAT was not successful.
The Patriots answered on the following possession, scoring on a 57-yard touchdown run. After the Stars turned the ball over on downs on the Winston 11 yard line, the Patriots scored on a 54-yard touchdown pass. The PAT was not successful, bringing the score to 28-6 going into the half.
In the third, the Stars collected an interception, but could not capitalize on the turnover. The Patriots scored again before the end of the third quarter.
Leading the Stars on offense was Holland Ingram with 42 yards rushing on 10 carries. Austin Huggins had two catches for 64 yards, and Hill was four for 11 on the night for 90 yards passing.
On defense, Colby Marlow led the team with seven tackles.
The Winston County Times contributed to this story.
