So far, this has been the season of the running clock for Winona Christian.
For the fifth week in a row, the Stars ran the clock as they cruised past Benton Academy 41-0 on Friday night.
The Stars improve to 4-1 on the season and will host Ethel this week for homecoming.
Head coach Ashley Kuhn said Stars got rolling after a slow start.
“We came out slow and I thought we were a little sluggish in the beginning,” Kuhn said. “But I thought we settled down and jumped on them and took care of business. We wanted to come out and take care of business and did that. We got 41 before the half and some of that was with the backups. I was proud of the effort on both sides of the ball. For the score, we really didn’t have a lot of yards because we had a lot of turnovers.”
The Stars got the scoring started on a 5-yard run by Brannon Hill. Evan Williams hit the PAT and the Stars led 7-0.
Will Irwin then scored the first of his four touchdowns on a 5-yard run. Williams hit the PAT and the Stars led 14-0.
Irwin then scored on a 17-yard run but missed the PAT as the Stars led 20-0.
Irwin then broke off a 42-yard touchdown run and Hill scored the two-point conversion as the Stars led 28-0.
Irwin finished off his scoring with a 28-yard run but missed the PAT for a 34-0 lead.
Hunter Land then finished off the scoring for Winona with a 1-yard run. Williams hit the PAT and the Stars led 41-0 at the half.
“I thought we played well on defense,” Kuhn said. “We gave up a few first downs on the first drive. But we were able to get stop there and were able to get some turnovers. And I was pleased with the defense. The young guys were able to keep the shutout and I was pleased with that. Again, it’s been a weird season. We have had five running clocks so we have played a lot of young kids. But I suspect all of that is about to change.”
The Stars had just 267 yards of total offense with 184 yards rushing and 83 passing. Hill was 3-of-7 passing for 83 yards while Braxton Leach had two catches for 57 yards. Will Irwin had 93 yards rushing on five carries with four touchdowns. Bryson McKnight also had 41 yards on seven carries.
On defense, Luke Beckwith led the Stars with nine tackles while Holland Self and Austin Wiggins each had six tackles apiece. Austin Horne and Jase Osborne each had four tackles while Hunter Land and Preston Fletcher each had three tackles apiece. Johnny Greene, Leach and Kaleb King each had two tackles apiece. Zack Bledsoe and Hudson Wood had interceptions while Wiggins, Fletcher and Aden Lewis had fumble recoveries.
This week’s game
The Stars will be at home this week as they host Ethel for homecoming.
The Tigers are 2-2 on the year with a win over J.Z. George (28-22) and a forfeit win over Benton. They have losses to Walnut (42-20) and Bogue Chitto (34-20).
“They beat us last year in a fairly convincing fashion,” Kuhn said. “It will be a tough test for us. They are about the same as they were last year. They have about 45 kids so they will have some kids than we do. It’s homecoming for us so there is a lot of stuff around that so I’m a little worried about that. Ideally, you play a lesser opponent for homecoming but that’s not the case this week.”
Last year, Ethel beat Winona Christian 36-13 and went 7-3 on the year.
