Turnovers are a big part of the outcome of most any football game.
They came into play last Friday night in the Midsouth Association of Independent School’s Class AA – Division I playoffs in Clarksdale.
The Winona Chrisitan School Stars finished the night with seven total possessions. Of those, four of them resulted in points, while three of resulted in fumbles. WCS wasn’t forced to punt the entire night and ended up on the short end of a 30-23 decision to the Lee Academy Colts.
With the loss, the Stars ended their season at 8-3. Lee Academy improves to 8-3 on the season and plays Centreville Academy for the state championship at 3 p.m. Friday at Jackson Academy.
“Turnovers were the difference,” WCS head football coach Ashley Kuhn said. “We had the football seven times, scoring four times, and we turned it over three times. Those turnovers took place on their side of the 50-yard line. Another difference was our inability to get them off the field on third down. They converted three third-down plays of 10 or more yards. It was disappointing because we had been a team all year that caused turnovers and the roles were reversed; it cost us.”
The Stars got on the board first in the opening quarter on a 21-yard field goal by junior Alston Croach, giving Winona Christian a 3-0 lead. Lee Academy answered the points with a drive of its own as senior quarterback Brayden Antici connected with classmate Bram Harris on a 28-yard scoring pass. The two-point conversion put the Colts up 8-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Winona Christian regained the advantage when senior running back Will Irwin scored on a 4-yard run. Crouch’s PAT put the Stars ahead 10-8 in the second quarter.
However, late in the half, Antici found Jonathan Redwine open on an 11-yard pass play for the touchdown to put Lee Academy open 14-10 at intermission, following the missed conversion.
The Colts opened the third period with two touchdown runs coming from standout junior running back Desi Monix. Coach Rick Johnston’s leading rusher scored on runs of 65 yards and 1 yard, along with a pair of two-point conversions, giving Lee Academy a commanding 30-10 lead.
Winona Christian didn’t quit down by 20, scoring once in the third quarter on a 4-yard run by Irwin, which made it 30-16, following a missed extra point. The Stars’ final touchdown came in the fourth quarter when sophomore quarterback Zack Bledsoe connected on a 13-yard pass to classmate Trey McClendon. Crouch’s extra point made it 30-23.
After the game, Kuhn said that he was proud that his team didn’t quit after falling behind in the second half.
“I’m super proud of the effort our guys gave when we fell behind in the second half by three scores,” Kuhn concluded. “We didn’t quit.”
The Colts finished with 332 total yards compared to 317 for the Stars. Irwin finished the night with 27 carries for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns. Bledsoe had a near perfect night going 16-of-17 for 181 yards and a touchdown.
Senior linebacker Holland Self led the WCS defense with 9 tackles. Classmate Miles Biley finished with 8 tackles.
