The five-week season gets started for Winona High School Friday as it entertains Nettleton High School in the first round of the North 3A playoffs at Tiger Stadium.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
To win a state championship, a team must win five straight games.
“Our kids are excited the playoffs are here, but they stay pretty even keel. I expect us to play steady and take care of business,” said WHS ninth-year head coach Joey Tompkins.
Nettleton is 6-4 overall and was the fourth seed from Region 4. They are coming off a 51-0 loss to Amory last week.
“This is not your normal 1 versus 4 matchup,” said Tompkins. “They have one of the best young quarterbacks I’ve seen. He’s only a ninth grader, but he plays like a senior -- very composed. We will need to play well to beat them.”
The winner of the Winona-Nettleton game advances to face the victor of the Water Valley-Rosa Fort contest on Nov. 11 in the second round.
The Tigers enter the playoffs riding a four-game winning streak after posting a 42-20 win over Ruleville to end Region 3 play at 4-0. Winona has outscored its opponents this season 339-184 with the lone loss coming to Zachary High School from Louisiana.
Winona outgained Ruleville 367-264 in total yardage despite only picking up 12 yards rushing on 20 carries. Junior quarterback Chase Richardson was brought down for minus-26 yards on seven attempts, and sophomore tailback Zaishun Nash was held to 35 yards on nine carries.
However, the Tigers took advantage of Ruleville’s lack of a safety and torched the visiting Tigers for 355 yards passing. Richardson found his targets as he completed 15-of-19 passes and five touchdowns. He also had one rushing touchdown.
“We took what they gave us,” Tompkins added. “We hit them with some big plays in the passing game. They were playing a zero coverage, which means no safety. They were trying to shut down our running game, which they did, but we proved to them we could throw the football.
“Now going forward, we need to have an effective running game. We need to be able to run the ball. We can do both, but we’d like to be balanced on offense. We threw the ball well against Philadelphia and Humphreys County when they loaded the box. We have good receivers and an accurate quarterback.”
Winona only led 7-0 after the first period on Richardson’s four-yard run. Aubrey Bailey booted the PAT.
In the second period, Richardson threw three TD passes — a 24-yarder to Kam’ron Robinson, a 16-yarder to Tristin Purnell, and a 25-yarder to Troylando Eden. Bailey was true on all three PATs as the homestanding Tigers led 28-6 at the break.
The third quarter saw Winona outscore Ruleville 14-6. Richardson and Purnell connected on a 65-yard pass and a 32-yard strike. Bailey’s two PATs made it 42-6 headed to the final period.
Robinson finished with 182 yards receiving on six catches. Purnell had seven receptions for 132 yards, and Eden had two grabs for 41 yards.
A’jerrian Garrett led the defense with seven solo stops and eight assists, which includes four tackles for loss. He leads Winona with 86 total tackles on the season.
Eric Boone had two solos and six assists, and Javien Jackson had a solo stop, eight assists, one sack and four tackles for loss. Fred Clark finished with two solos and five assists, and Trey Cox had three solos and one assist.
Jemarius Sanders and Tomarrion Brown had a solo and five assists each. Keshawn Brown had a solo and four assists, and Ja’mes Bays had two solos and two assists. Robinson had an interception. Nate Henson had six assisted tackles.
