Winning cures all ills.
That’s the feeling first-year Winona High School head football coach Deangelo Ballard had last Friday night as the Tigers broke a three-game losing streak to open the 2025 season with a 35-22 road win over Houston High School.
With the win, the Tigers improve to 1-3 on the season.
For Ballard, it was good to finally get that first victory after three losses to start the season.
“It was good to get that first win of the season,” Ballard said. “When things aren’t going your way, sometimes it’s hard to keep giving the players the same talk every week. Our guys have dealt with adversity all season and they have kept fighting. Getting a win has rejuvenated their energy and effort. Hopefully, this will propel us for the rest of the season.”
Injuries have plagued the Tigers through the early part of the season. They lost their center against Southaven in the 29-22 loss and added to that total with injuries to two more linemen in the 34-14 loss to Grenada. Despite those injuries, the offense had a big night last week with four touchdowns with a fifth score coming on special teams.
“To be able to score like we did is a credit to our offense,” Ballard said. “I thought we played well in all three phases of the game.”
Junior Yoshawn Hudson had an All-Star night with four touchdowns scored, three of which were on the ground. Hudson finished the night with 18 carries for 201 yards and three touchdowns in addition to a 70-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
“Yoshawn is special talent,” Ballard said. “He should only get better and should begin to get looks from schools. The offers will come.”
Junior quarterback Landon Crawford finished the night with 10 carries for 64 yards and a touchdown. Through the air, he finished 6-of-14 for 78 yards with two interceptions. Junior Kentrell Crawford was the leading receiver with two catches for 42 yards followed by junior Jalon Oliver added three catches for 31 yards.
Junior Ben Rosamond finished 5-for-5 in extra-point kicks.
Defensively, sophomore Alejandro White led the Tigers with nine tackles followed by junior Navarius Davis with eight. Junior Jabari Jones and classmate Dejuan McChristian recorded seven tackles apiece. Juniors Quincy Burt and Antonio Young both had six tackles each.
Winona returns to action Friday night traveling to Greenwood to face Amanda Elzy. This will mark the final non-division game before hosting Aberdeen to open Class AAA, Region 4 play.
“We just want to continue to get better,” Ballard concluded. “In our final non-region game, we just want to focus on ourselves, not our opponent.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
