Winona High School’s football team can put the first six weeks of the season behind them and focus on the games that will get them into the playoffs starting Friday night.
The Tigers begin Region 3-3A play Friday as they take on the Panthers of Yazoo County High School at 7 p.m. in Yazoo City.
Winona played one of the toughest non-district schedules in the state as they went 2-4, which includes last week’s 34-7 loss to Charleston High School.
“We are not where we want to be at this point of the season,” said Winona coach Joey Tompkins. “We were hoping to be farther along. We need to do a better job coaching and getting these guys in the right position to be successful and get a win this week.
“We can’t seem to get out of our own way to help ourselves. We had so many lost yardage plays against Charleston. We gave up a long pass play right before the half ended, and they scored on a short run to go up 14-0 at the half,” added Tompkins.
“We didn’t play well on either side of the ball. We didn’t have the explosive plays on offense, and it was one of our worst efforts on defense all season. I’m not taking anything from Charleston because they are a very good team, but we have a lot of inexperience and youth in places where we have been dominant in the past.”
The Tigers scored on a 45-yard run in the first quarter and tacked on a 2-yard run in the second period for a 14-0 lead. Charleston got a 30-yard TD pass in the third quarter and led 22-0 headed to the fourth. The Tigers tacked on a 1-yard run to lead 28-0 before Winona got on the scoreboard on a 21-yard pass from Landon Crawford to Troylando Eden. Charleston tacked on one more touchdown against Winona’s younger players late in the fourth quarter.
Charleston finished with 363 total yards (179 rushing, 184 passing), while Winona had 153 total yards (79 rushing, 74 passing).
Crawford was 7-of-20 for 74 yards with an interception. He ran for 14 yards on 12 carries. Zaishun Nash only had 24 yards on 10 carries, and Eden had 15 yards on one carry. Nash had one catch for 27 yards, and Eden had three receptions for 26 yards.
Tyler Lockhart led the defense with four solos and seven assists, and Tommarion Brown had one solo stop and nine assists. Zarion Woods had three solos and five assists, and Miles Bailey had one solo and five assists. Jalon Oliver had two solos, four assists and an interception, and A’jerrian Garrett had three solos and four assists.
“All we can do is work to get better,” said Tompkins. “We are a young team, and it’s been frustrating for all of us. I believe in these kids. We played six good teams to start the season. We’re 2-4, and we could have either been 3-3 or 0-6.”
This week’s game
The Tigers claimed a 36-12 win over Yazoo County last season on their way to going 15-0 and winning the State 3A title. Winona holds a 4-1 lead in the all-time series.
“We have to understand we are starting our second season,” said Tompkins. “These are the games that matter and will determine if we are in the playoffs. I the past I could tell you I like our chances in the division. We are not there yet.
“Yazoo County has a big and strong defensive line, and we have struggled against teams with big defensive lines this season. We can’t look at this and just say we’ve got this one. We have to work hard in practice this week to get better.”
The Panthers are 2-4 overall and have lost three games in a row. They dropped a 34-28 overtime decision to Region 3 foe Humphreys County last week. Yazoo County’s two wins have come against South Delta and Yazoo City.
