Last year, the Winona Christian Stars beat rival Carroll in an epic contest to claim the District 2-3A championship.
The Carrol Academy Rebels returned the favor last week.
The Rebels used a dominating defense and took a 22-14 win over the Stars this year, earning the district title.
The Stars are now 5-2 on the season and will travel to Kirk Academy on Friday night while Carroll improves to 7-0 on the season and 3-0 in District 2-3A play and will play Oak Hill this week.
It’s been a long journey for Carroll Academy Coach Bo Milton and Rebels, who were winless when he took over. Now the Rebels are undefeated and district champions.
“I’m proud of our kids,” Milton said. “There has been a lot of hard work by them the previous groups. They have knocked on the door, and we kicked it in last night. There are lots of happy face on the field. It’s just a great feeling, and I’m super proud of our fans, players, and our community. Now it’s about finishing out the year. We don’t want any letdowns and don’t want to peak just yet.”
Winona Christian Coach Junior Graham said there were very few surprises from the Rebels.
“It was every bit of what we thought it was going to be,” Graham said. “I felt going in that we had to play error-free football and stay away from the penalty flags and we didn’t. Carroll is a really good football team and well-coached. We had to do something different to beat them, and they didn’t have to do anything different to beat us. They did exactly what they do every Friday night. But I was proud of our defense, I thought they played well. They were big and just wore us down.”
The Rebels struck first in the contest. After driving to the Winona six and turning the ball over on downs, the Rebels got the ball at their own 41. Hunter Brackin then got free on a 59-yard run with 3:09 left in the first quarter. Brennan Blaylock ran in the two-point conversion and Carroll led 8-0.
But the Stars struck right back as John White hit Blake Cooper on a swing pass as the senior running back went 58 yards for a touchdown. The try for two failed, and Carroll held an 8-6 lead.
The Stars got the ball right back on an interception by Jake Ware but failed to capitalize. They did pin the Rebels deep at their own five.
The Rebels then marched 95 yards in 10 plays as Blaylock hit Mathis Beck on a 34-yard touchdown pass. Hunter Grantham’s PAT was good, and Carroll led 15-6.
The Stars answered once again, going 52 yards in seven plays as John White hit Scott Walters on a six-yard touchdown pass with seven seconds left in the half. White then hit Ware for the two-point conversion, and Carroll held a slim 15-14 win at the half.
“We kind of struggled on offense,” Graham said. “We thought we were going to get man and got zone all night. It was a different look than what we thought, and they sold out to stop Dalton. They were able to take away the run, and if you get one dimensional against Carroll, good luck with that in our league. They got us behind the chains, and we had to throw it.”
After throwing an interception on their first drive, the Rebels added one more touchdown in the second half. This one came on their second drive as the Rebels went 53 yards in six plays. After a 20-yard pass to Mathis Beck, Blaylock finished off the drive with a six-yard touchdown run. Grantham booted the PAT, and Carroll led 22-14.
The Stars put together a 10-play drive but were eventually forced to punt as Carroll put together two time-consuming drives and ran out the clock to get the win.
“I thought the defense did a great job of adjusting to what they were doing,” Milton said. “I thought we did a good job of tackling and didn’t give up but one big play. We took away number 7 (Wiggins) for the most part. I thought the defensive line got after them and made the quarterback uncomfortable in the pocket. We ended up with 11 tackles for loss and that’s pretty dominating. Then we ran for 280 yards, and I’ll take that combination every Friday night.”
The Stars struggled on offense as they had just eight yards rushing on 15 attempts. Cooper had 20 yards on eight carries. White was 18-of-28 passing for 171 yards and two TDs. Dalton Wiggins had eight catches for 70 yards.
Hayden Self led the Winona defense with 15 tackles and a fumble recovery.
The Rebels had 284 yards rushing on 42 carries as Blaylock led the way with 126 yards on 18 carries. Bracken had 77 yards on nine carries while Mathis Beck had 54 yards on 10 carries. Blaylock was 3-of-8 passing for 59 yards while Noah Beck had two catches for 55 yards.
