After making the Class 3A semifinals in football, the Winona High School Tigers were well represented on the Mississippi Association of Coaches Class 3A All-State football team.
Junior running back Deriaun Townsend was named a first-team selection while Robert McMath was a second-team wide receiver. Cohlton Triplett was a second-team center while Devontae Bays was a second-team offensive tackle. Dadarion Small was a second-team pick at free safety.
Leading the way for the Tigers is Townsend, who led Class 3A in rushing with 1,593 yards on 212 carries with 23 touchdowns.
“When we were looking at nominations, he led the state in carries, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns,” Winona coach Joey Tompkins said. “He had a really good yer for us. He couldn’t have done it with the offensive line and we had two guys make all-state on the offensive line.”
Also making the team on offense is senior Robert McMath, who also made the Class 3A all-state team last year as a junior. McMath had 41 catches for 642 yards and six touchdowns this season after 63 catches for 973 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior.
“Robert had better numbers last year because of the amount of throws,” Tompkins said. “We threw it a lot last year because of our quarterback. His numbers would have been better this year if we had been more experienced at quarterback. But he was still good enough to be all-state this year.”
On the offensive line, Triplett made the second-team as a center while Bays was a second-team offensive tackle. The duo helped the Tigers average 378 yards a game on offense with 241 yards a game rushing and 137 a game passing.
“I thought that our offensive line was our strong point this year,” Tompkins said. “We had three seniors up front and I hate that Jacob Brannon didn’t make it. We had three up front that were experienced and did a good job for us this year.”
Rounding out the team for Winona was Small, who made the team as a free safety.
“He was really the only guy we had that played both ways,” Tompkins said. “His numbers were better last year. He played a lot of snaps this season. I’m proud of those guys that got selected for the teams. They had a good season.”
