One thing is for sure at this point of the season, the Winona Christian Stars know how to play with a running clock.
The Stars added another running clock to their already impressive collection as they beat Central Holmes 35-0 on senior night.
Winona Christian improves to 8-1 on the season and will travel to Marshall Academy on Friday night in a crucial district contest.
Winona Christian head coach Ashley Kuhn said he thought his team came out flat but bounced back and got rolling.
“I thought we came out a little sluggish and complacent,” Kuhn said. “I’ll give them credit, they came out and got after us. I think our kids thought they were just going to come out and lay down but they got after us. We fumbled the first possession and got stopped the second possession. But we got it together and were up 28-0 at the half.”
The Stars sputtered on their first two series but finally got going on the third as Brannon Hill hit Johnny Greene on a 70-yard touchdown pass. Cannon Fisakerly hit the PAT and the Stars led 7-0.
The Stars added to the lead as Hill went to the air again, hitting Braxton Leach on a 15-yard touchdown pass. The PAT failed and the Stars led 13-0.
Winona continued to add to its lead as Will Irwin scored on runs of 2 and 1 yards. His hit Leach on a two-point conversion and Fiskarly hit the PAT and the Stars led 28-0 a the half.
“I thought our defense played well,” Kuhn said. “Offensively, we sputtered early in the game. They came out and got after us but we settled down and responded. I was pleased with how we responded. We needed a little bit of adversity. We have been fortunate that we haven’t been behind outside of our one loss. Defensively, it’s good anytime you can get a shutout. And it can be hard to get a shutout when you start subbing kids. But even our young kids played really well.”
The Stars got the ball to start the second half and drove down the field as Hill hit Leach on a 20-yard touchdown pass. Fiskarly hit the PAT and took a 35-0 lead to get the clock running.
The Stars used a balanced offensive attack with 152 yards passing and 197 yards rushing. Irwin led the rushing attack with 124 yards on 15 carries while Bryson McKnight had 39 yards on eight carries. Hill also had 22 yards rushing on six carries. Hill was 7-of-9 passing for 147 yards and three TDs. Greene had two catches for 73 yards and a TD while Leach had 50 yards on five carries.
Holland Self led Winona Christian with 10 tackles while Hill had seven stops. Austin Wiggins had six tackles while Avery Womack had five stops. Kaleb King and Luke Beckwith had four tackles while Leach, Austin Horne and Jase Osborne each had three tackles apiece. Irwins also had an interception on defense.
This week’s game
The Stars will get their biggest test since week two of the season when they travel to Marshall on Friday night.
The Patriots are 6-3 on the season with wins over Rossville (47-8), Oak Hill (42-0), North Delta (28-0), Indianola (35-7), Lee (41-6) and Carroll (19-0). They have losses to Greenville Christian (34-21), Magnolia Heights (13-0) and Kirk (17-14).
“Our next two weeks are going to be tough ones,” Kuhn said. “Marshall has a really good football team. They have brought in some kids and they are really good football players. It will be a tough one for us but I’m excited to see how our kids respond against a good Marshall team.”
