The Winona Christian Stars secured the No. 2 seed in the MAIS playoffs with a 26-15 win over Class AAA Winston Academy on Senior night this Friday.
The Stars finish the regular season with a 7-3 record and are the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Class AA playoffs. The Stars will host 1-9 Amite on Friday night.
Winona Christian coach Junior Graham knew his team would have their hands full with Winston.
“We weren’t real fluid on offense,” Graham said. “There just wasn’t any consistency. We played really good at times and blocked well at times but then we would get in the red zone and have penalties. But I give Winston a lot of credit. They play hard on defense and they fly to the football. We were just fortunate to get out of there with a win when we really didn’t play our best game.”
The Stars were in a dog fight in the first half as they scored just twice with the first being a 5-yard run by Latham Hill. The kick was blocked and Winona led 6-0 early.
The Stars added a 7-yard touchdown run by Dalton Wiggins in the second half and led 12-8 at the half.
“I thought we kind of had a hangover after the win over Carroll,” Graham said. “The bad part about that is in the playoffs you can’t get a hangover. After the first round, there aren’t going to be any bad teams. We have to stay focused. Of course, it was senior night and there were a lot of activities.”
After a scoreless third quarter, Winona added two fourth quarter touchdowns. The first was a 6-yard run by Corley Goss with the two-point conversion by Hill.
The second was a 45-yard interception return by Wiggins to seal the victory.
“That was our first defensive touchdown of the year,” Graham said. “As soon as Dalton picked it off, we had guys getting in position to set up the way. And for the first time this year, we didn’t turn the ball over. That’s the first time this year we haven’t done that and met that goal.”
The Stars had 324 yards of total offense with 284 rushing and 40 passing. Goss led the charge on offense with 137 yards rushing on 24 carries while Wiggins had 62 yards rushing on seven carries along with two catches for 16 yards. Latham Hill was 7-of-10 passing for 40 yards.
Ben Pinkard led the Winona defense with nine tackles while Cade Marlow had seven stops. John Blaylock had 6.5 tackles while Wiggins had three tackles and two interceptions.
The Rebels of Amite, this Friday night's foe, are 1-9 on the season. Their lone win was over Ben’s Ford (26-13) in week three of the season. Their losses are to Central Holmes (36-22), Silliman (46-8), Cathedral (40-30), North Delta (14-0), Central Private (40-0), Sylva Bay (52-12), Clinton Christian (48-8), Centreville (46-19) and Brookhaven (35-14).
“Their record is deceiving,” Graham said. “They are a 1-9 team but they are a pretty good football team. They just haven’t been able to put it together on both sides of the football. They are not a bad offensive team. They run a ton of formations. We will have to be disciplined on defense and get lined up. This is one of those deals where we have to get past their record and make the kids understand that our Friday night
