Winona High School head coach DeAngelo Ballard says the game plan is simple for his 0-3 Tigers football team as they prepare to visit Houston High School Friday.
“We just need to work on us and not worry as much about the other team,” said Ballard, whose Tigers dropped a 42-33 decision to Calhoun City last week. “We need to focus on what we do and get better at it. We could easily be 3-0 instead of 0-3.
“We had a good many penalties the first two games, but we didn’t have near as many last week. We had a crucial holding penalty inside Calhoun City’s 20, and we had an offsides on a fourth-and-four,” added Ballard.
“Our goal is to get better every day and improve week to week. We’ve got some more injuries with two of our linemen who go both ways out, and we have a third offensive lineman with an injury. The young kids who stepped in last week did a good job. We just need to keep doing what got us 33 points and stay motivated and focused.”
The Hilltoppers come into this week’s game at 0-4 overall and have been outscored 179-65. They dropped a 45-7 decision to top-ranked Tupelo High School last week.
“They are young and have new coaches, so it depends on what team wants it the most,” Ballard added.
In last week’s loss to Calhoun City, the Tigers trailed 34-12 at the half and mounted a comeback in the second half.
Landon Crawford and Yoshawn Hudson led the way. Crawford, a junior quarterback, was 10-of-15 passing for 125 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for 100 yards on 10 carries and scored one touchdown. Hudson had 108 yards rushing on only nine carries and scored three times.
Ayden Johnson had three receptions for 73 yards and one touchdown, and Dee Hudson had six catches for 52 yards.
Alejandro White led the defense with eight solo tackles and nine assists, and Jalon Oliver, Quincy Burt and Antonio Young had eight tackles each.
“We showed that we can get into the end zone, but we just need to play better from the start,” said Ballard.
