A season’s worth of frustration came pouring out on Friday night for the Winona Christian Stars.
The Stars scored the game’s first 28 points and used a stingy defense to take a 56-28 win over Delta Streets on Friday night.
The Stars are now 2-5 overall and will host Marshall on Friday night in a non-district contest.
For coach Junior Graham and his young squad, it was a good win as both sides of the football played their best game of the season.
“To sum it up, we didn’t turn the ball over and forced turnovers on defense,” Graham said. “We were able to run the ball and that set up our ability to throw the ball. It was a good win for us and I’m proud for the kids. I thought they were super talented but are just in the infant stages of their program. I thought it was a complete game for Winona Christian, offensively and defensively.”
The Stars jumped out quick and took the game in hand early. The Stars scored 14 points in the first quarter on a pair of Jake Ware touchdown passes, the first being a 17-yarder to Parker Bledsoe that capped off a 15-play drive and the second being a 29-yarder to Collin Parkinson. Ware then hit Lane Beckwith on the two-point conversion on the second TD and the Stars led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The Stars stretched the lead out in the second quarter as Ware scored on a 38-yard run and Reese Johnson kicked the PAT as the Stars led 21-0.
The Stars then got a defensive score as Beckwith scored on a 17-yard fumble recovery and Johnson kicked the PAT and Winona held a 28-0 lead.
Delta responded with a 62-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 28-6. But Ware and the Stars marched right back down the field as the quarterback called his own number in an 8-yard touchdown run. Johnson kicked the PAT and the Stars led 35-6.
Delta then returned the ensuing kick 80 yards for a touchdown and the Stars led 35-14 at the half.
“It was a clean game for us for the most part,” Graham said. “We had very few penalties. We go as Jake goes and Jake had a good game. He just finished his sixth game at quarterback and had he been taking reps there he whole career, he might be in the metro area or in the Delta now. He is just getting better and better every week.”
The Stars took the game in hand in the third as they continued to add to their lead. The first score was another defensive score as Stone Bowering returned an interception 20 yards for a score. Johnson kicked the PAT and Winona led 42-14.
Delta then had another 80-yard kickoff return and converted the two-point attempt cut the lead to 42-22.
The Stars then added two more scores to put the game out of reach as Ware hit Sam Thompson on a 9-yard touchdown pass and Beckwith had a 43-yard touchdown run. Johnson kicked both PATS and the Stars led 58-22 to get the clock running.
Delta added a late 18-yard touchdown pass for the final margin.
The Stars had 304 yards rushing on 33 carries and 104 yards passing. Ware had 155 yards rushing on 16 carries and was 7-of-15 passing with three TDs. Lane Beckwith had 114 yards rushing on eight carries while Collin Parkinson had 46 yards receiving on four receptions.
“I told our coaches, if we knew now what we know now about who should be where on offense and defense, we would have been a whole lot more competitive,” Graham said. “We might beat Oak Hill and Benton is a lot closer game. We were still searching at that time. We feel like we have our kids in the right spots right now. We have three tough games to finish out the year and we will see how those come out.”
This week’s game
The Stars will have their hands full this week as they have another Class 4A contest with Marshall Academy.
The Patriots are 5-0 on the season with wins over Fayette (26-6), Rossville (34-0), North Delta (14-7), Walnut (31-8) and Lee Academy (48-7).
“They return all of those guys from last year and struggled with them last year,” Graham said. “They have the best defensive box that we have faced so far. They are huge up front and runs some of that RPO stuff that puts pressure on the defense. We will have our hands full. We need to get some turnovers and some breaks and we could make it a ball game. They are really similar to what we saw last week. Our preparation will be really similar to last week.”
Winona Christian defeated Marshall 33-7 last year in the regular season and then beat them 35-21 in the playoffs.
