Winona Christian football coach Ashley Kuhn was really excited about making the 2 1/2 hour trip to West Memphis Christian on Friday night.
But he enjoyed the return trip back to Winona after the Stars cruised to a 45-18 win over West Memphis in the season opener on Friday night.
The Stars improve to 1-0 on the season and will host Kirk on Friday night.
Kuhn said the Stars dominated from the beginning and took care of business.
“They never really stopped us and the positive things is we went on the road and got to play everybody,” Kuhn said. “We got a lot of reps with the young kids and got out healthy. We had some big plays and scored on defense, offense and had a big special tams play. I thought we tackles well and basically dominated in every phase of the game. We got to play a lot of kids and I don’t know how many chances we will have to do that. We will need those young kids down the line so it was important for them to get some reps early in the season.”
The Stars dominated the contest early with four first-quarter touchdowns. The first was a. 10-yard run by Will Irwin. The PAT failed and the Stars led 6-0 early.
Winona continued the onslaught when Irwin intercepted a pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown. Tyler Schraenkler’s PAT was good and Winona led 13-0.
After getting the ball back, Winona went on the offensive attack again and scored on a 22-yard pass from Brannon Hill to Braxton Leach. Hunter Land ran in the two-point conversion and the Stars led 21-0.
Winona finished off the first-quarter scoring as Irwin scored on a 5-yard run. Hill hit Johnny Green on the two-point conversion and the Stars led 29-0 at the end of the first.
The Stars continued to pour it on in th second quarter as Hill scored on a 3-yard run. Hill then hit Holland Self for the two-point conversion and the Stars led 37-0.
Winona Christian’s last score was a 37-yard run by Irwin. Hill hit Green on the two-point conversion and the Stars led 45-6 at the half.
West Memphis added two second-half scored agains the Winona Christian reserves for the final margin.
“We never punted and scored the first seven times we had the ball,” Kuhn said. “We put the game away early and went into halftime preparing the the young kids to make sure they can line up and I was pleased with that. It was a long trip and we took care of business early. We got the clock running early and that’s always good.”
The Stars had 208 yards rushing and 43 passing for 251 total yards. Irwin led the rushing attack with 135 yards on 11 carries with three TDs. Hunter Land had 30 yards on five carries while Bryson McKnight had 25 yards on three carries. Hill was 5-of-8 passing for 43 yards with one TD. Braxton Leach had two catches for 34 yards as well.
On defense, Holland Self and Jase Osborne each had six tackles while Johnny Greene had five tackles. Leach, Irwin, Luke Beckwith, Austin Horne and Kaleb Ki each had three tackles apiece.
Irwin had an interception while Hill had a fumble recovery.
This week’s game
The Stars will return home this week for the home opener against Kirk.
The Raiders opened the season with a 42-7 win over Manchester Academy. Kirk went 12-1 last year and beat Winona 40-0.
“I think they are one of the favorites in Class 3A this year,” Kuhn said. “They are big and physical. They brought back a lot of kids from last year and added some kids from last year. They run really well and have athletes all over the field. They are a really good football team. We will have to play really well.”
