For the second straight week, the Winona Christian Stars lost a heartbreaker on the football field.
The Stars fell behind early but a failed two-point conversion allowed Marshall Academy to hang on for a 28-26 win on Friday night.
With the loss, the Stars fall to 7-2 on the season and will host Oak Hill Academy on Friday night.
It was another tough loss for the Stars, who have lost two in a row after racking up seven straight wins to open the season.
“We are three points away from being undefeated,” Winona Christian Coach Junior Graham said. “Throughout the course of a game, one or two plays have decided those games. The kids are playing hard, we just have to get our mojo and confidence back. A lot of things went our way those first seven weeks that haven’t gone our way the last two weeks.”
Marshall got on the board first as they jumped out to a 14-0 lead with touchdown runs of 13 and 64 yards.
The Stars answered with a 13-yard touchdown run by Thomas Costilow. The try for two failed and Winona trailed 14-6.
Marshall extended the lead as they added another second-quarter touchdown on an 18-yard touchdown pass. The try for two was good and the Patriots led 22-6.
The Stars scored before the half as John White hit Reed Roberts on a 12-yard touchdown pass. The try for two failed, and Marshall led 22-12 at the half.
“Marshall is pretty good,” Graham said. “They have changed their offense and have some good athletes that can stretch you from sideline to sideline. We got off to another slow start. But we fought back and had a chance to tie it up. We just aren’t making the explosive plays that we were making earlier in the season.”
The Stars pulled within two in the third quarter as Dalton Wiggins scored on a 1-yard run. Wiggins also ran in the two-point conversion to cut the Marshall lead to 22-20.
But the Patriots answered right back as they scored on a 6-yard run to take a 28-20 lead.
The Stars put together one last drive as Hayden Self scored on a 1-yard run with 1:40 left in the game. The Stars went for two but the conversion failed as the Patriots held on to take the win.
“Our kids never quit and never panicked,” Graham said. “We have got a lot of young kids playing. We are pretty beat up right now. I thought Hayden Self ran the ball really well, especially in the fourth quarter. We had to put a lot of young guys in there on defense. We are playing a lot of young guys who are playing for the first time and still competing. If we can get healthy and get the ball bouncing back in our favor, you can never tell what can happen in the playoffs.”
The two teams were evenly matched in the yardage department as well. The Stars had 108 yards rushing and 172 passing for 280 yards. Marshall had 207 yards rushing and 72 passing for 279 yards.
White was 13-of-24 passing for 172 yards with one TD and one interception. Choyce Diffey had four catches for 98 yards while Costilow had 57 yards rushing on 11 carries.
On defense, Ben Pinkard led the defense with 10 tackles while Hayden Self, Bradley Pinkard and Diffey each had nine tackles apiece. Lane Beckwith also had two fumble recoveries.
