Going into the season, Winona Christian coach Ken Chandler thought his team would have a chance to beat Benton.
Chandler was right, and the Stars rolled to a 35-0 win over the Raiders.
Winona Christian improves to 3-1 on the season and will travel to Winston Academy on Friday night.
Chandler said it was a good team win for his squad, who rushed for 293 yards on a wet field and got 235 yards and four touchdowns from senior running back Jake Ware.
“We knew going into the season that this was one game that we had chance to win,” Chandler said. “I knew that Benton was down, and unless they got a lot of players, they were going to struggle. Now I will say that their kids are playing much better than we anticipated. Moving Jake Ware to running back, he has become such a weapon, and our defense is starting to play better.”
The Stars got the ball to open the game and drove down the field on the Raiders and scored on a 2-yard run by Jake Ware. The PAT was fumbled, and center Bryce Harville scooped it up and scored the two-point conversion to give Winona an 8-0 lead.
The Raiders were able to get a few first downs before the Stars turned them over on downs. Four plays later, Ware got loose on a 66-yard run for a touchdown. Brannon Hill ran in the two-point conversion, and Winona Christian led 16-0.
The Stars added one more score in the first half as Ware scored on a 9-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. The try-for-two failed, and Winona led 22-0 at the half.
“The conditions were bad and with the rain, we went in with the understanding that we had to hold onto the football,” Chandler said. “We had run the football as much as we could, even though we had a good mismatch on the outside. I thought we did a good job with ball security and blocking up front.”
The Stars continued to pour it on in the third quarter when Ware ripped off a 51-yard touchdown run. Reese Johnson kicked the PAT and Winona Christian led 29-0.
The Stars finished off their scoring as Hill hit Collin Parkinson on a 39-yard touchdown pass. The PAT failed for the final margin of 35-0.
“We are playing some young guys on defense, and they are getting a lot better,” Chandler said. “Our starting linebacker was out this week, and our starting end was out. We didn’t play Jake on defense very much because he was sick all week. So those guys are getting some valuable reps.”
The Stars had 293 yards rushing and 59 passing for 352 yards of total offense. Ware had another big night with 235 yards on 16 carries with four TDs. Hill ran for 33 yards on seven carries while Sam Thompson had 25 yards on five carries.
Hill was 4-for-6 passing for 59 yards. Parkinson had one catch for 39 yards while Ware had two catches for 14 yards.
“All we ran was 33 plays the entire game,” Chandler said. “We are a running team, but we need a dry surface to play better. We could have thrown it better but did drop a 50-yard pass. I’m extremely pleased with Brannon Hill and the way he is playing.”
On defense, Bryce Harville led the way with 11 tackles while Collin Moore had nine tackles. Braxton Leach had eight stops while Parkinson, Ware and Will Irwin had five stops apiece. Trace Carpenter and Johnny Greene each had four tackles apiece while Reese Johnson, Thompson, Jase Osborn, Brayden Stanford and Wyatt Merriweather each had three stops apiece.
This week’s game
The Stars will hit the road this week and face a stern test against Winston Academy.
The Patriots are 1-3 and opened with three straight losses to Leake (40-12), Canton (24-8) and Jackson Academy (20-17). They got their first win against Central Holmes (28-7) last week.
“It will be tough,” Chandler said. “They have played a tough schedule. They beat JA all over the field. Their Jimmy’s and Joes will be bigger and stronger than ours. This team we’ve got will compete and play hard. They won’t quit and will keep churning.”
