Winona Christian and Carroll Academy were certainly well represented in the recent Class 1A-2A-3A MAIS All-star football game last week.
Winona Christian had five players in the game while running back Blake Cooper was named the blue team’s Most Valuable Offensive Player.
“I thought for an all-star game that Blake had a really good game,” WCS coach Junior Graham said. “It’s really hard to establish a run game in an all-star game but I thought Blake did a good job. He broke the one long run and did a good job of moving the chains for them.”
Carroll Academy coach Bo Milton coached Cooper and the blue team, which lost 13-9 on a late touchdown by the white team.
“I thought Blake had a really good game,” Milton said. “He was really good and I thought it was an evenly matched game. I hope they take away some great memories from it. It was a fun week and as a coach, you are just trying to make sure that everybody has a good time and make sure everybody got a lot of snaps.”
Graham said he wasn’t surprised by Cooper’s performance after his senior season with the Stars. But one thing did surprise Graham.
“After going and watching the practices and seeing what Bo was going to do and how Blake ran the ball, I wasn’t surprised that Blake was the Most Valuable Player,” Graham said. “I knew that Bo was going to give him the ball a good bit and that’s what he did. But I thought Blake did an exceptional job punting. It was a defensive game and he had two punts inside the 10-yard line. He didn’t punt for us all year except in warmups. He had a heck of a day punting.”
Also making the team for Winona Christian was Hayden Self, who saw action at fullback and middle linebacker. Dalton Wiggins played receiver while Reese Oliver and Collin Mullin played on the line. Mullin was a late addition to the game. Wiggins had a big catch early in the game while Self recorded multiple tackles for the White team in a win.
“Collin was picked up on Wednesday,” Graham said. “They needed another interior lineman and Collin was the next man up. He mainly played on the interior defensive line and he hasn’t done that all year long and I thought he did a good job with it. I was proud of all of the kids.”
For Carroll Academy, four players made the game and three played for Milton - Cooper Beck, Hunter Brower and Braxton York. Hunter Brackin played for the white team and got several carries at running back.
“I thought from top to bottom that Cooper Beck was the most dominant player there,” Milton said. “When we put him at nose guard on defense, he got after hit. He was either making the play or chasing it down. I thought it showed a lot of his abilities. Even though I didn’t coach him, I thought Hunter showed what he could do running the football. I thought he ran the ball hard, like he has all year long.”
