It’s a game that fans will be talking about for years to come.
Last Friday’s Winona Christian School-Marshall Academy contest resembled two middleweight fighters trading punches for four quarters. The game needed overtime to decide a winner.
Regulation ended with the teams tied at 22-22. The Stars used a 5-yard run from senior running back Will Irwin and an extra point from junior Alston Crouch to give WCS a short-lived 29-22 lead in overtime.
The Patriots scored on a 10-yard run and lined for the two-point conversion. WCS was whistled for offsides, moving ball one-and-a-half yards closer. Marshall scored on the next play on a run to win a close 30-29 decision.
With the loss, the Stars are now 3-2 on the season.
“It was a tough loss for our guys,” WCS head coach Ashley Kuhn said. “Our guys played extremely hard. We got an early lead, then struggled and fell behind before fighting back to force overtime.”
The Stars had a balanced attack, running for 124 yards and passing for 128 yards.
“I thought we struggled offensively at first, while the defense played well,” Kuhn said. “As the game went on, we started to figure some things out.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the Stars got on the scoreboard first as Irwin ran in from three yards out with 7:46 left in the half. Crouch’s extra point gave WCS a 7-0 lead, which was the halftime score.
Irwin scored his second of four touchdown runs, this time from 23 yards out with 8:32 left in the third period. Crouch’s extra point made it 14-0 in favor of the Stars.
The Patriots inched closer on a 50-yard pass play and two-point conversion to cut the Stars lead to 14-8 with 2:29 left in the third quarter. Marshall’s defense got into the scoring as they intercepted a Zack Bledsoe pass, returning it nine yards for the touchdown. The-point conversion failed leaving the score tied at 14-14 with 1:36 remaining in the third period.
Early in the final quarter, the Patriots scored on a 1-yard run and added the two-point conversion to take a 22-14 lead with 9:08 remaining in the game. The Stars answered with what would be the game-tying drive as Irwin scored and added the two-point conversion to make it 22-22 with 6:22 left.
The Stars drove as deep as the Marshall 35-yard in the game’s final minutes before they lost the ball on downs with the game eventually going into overtime.
Individually, Irwin finished with 29 carries for 104 yards and four touchdowns. Bledsoe was 6-of-11 for 128 yards.
Defensively, senior Holland Self finished with eight tackles, six assists and three tackles for losses. Senior Miles Bailey had five tackles and three assists, while senior Austin Wiggins chipped in with two tackles and six assists. Sophomore Luke Beckwith had three tackles and four assists.
Winona Christian returns to action this Friday night hosting North Delta School for its annual Homecoming. The Green Wave brings a 1-3 mark into the contest.
“We told our guys that all our goals are still in front us,” Kuhn concluded. “This will be the start of our second season playing schools our size. It’s Homecoming week and hopefully we can avoid the distractions that will come this week.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
