It may not be the game of the week in Mississippi prep football, but it ranks right up there among the games this week.
Winona High School entertains Choctaw County High School at 7 p.m. Friday at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers come into the game with a 4-4 overall mark and a 1-1 record in Region 4-3A. Winona has not fared well at home this season as they are only 1-3. The Tigers are 3-1 on the road.
Choctaw County is 4-4 and 2-1 in the region. The Chargers dropped an 8-7 contest to Noxubee County last week. Noxubee is 5-3 and 1-1 in region, and Aberdeen is 5-3 and 2-1. Nettleton is 0-7 and 0-2 and hosts Winona on Oct. 30.
“Our kids are excited about this game,” said Winona head coach DeAngelo Ballard. “This is a rivalry game. We have a few kids who moved to Ackerman and are now playing for Choctaw, and a lot of our kids know their kids. It’s going to be intense. It’s a huge district game for both teams. We feel like we can wrap up the district championship by winning this game.
“Choctaw County still has a very good team. Their quarterback (KJ Cork) makes it all go for them, and they still have Jeremiah Miller at running back. KJ is the type of kid who can throw it and take off running. He will make you miss in the open field, so we need to do a good job of containing him.”
Against Noxubee last week, Cork was 14-of-30 for 165 yards with one interception. Miller ran for 129 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.
“This game is for bragging rights for the next 365 days,” said Ballard. “We need to win it for several reasons, and winning the district title is the first one. We are all about winning championships at Winona.”
The Tigers celebrated homecoming last week and survived for a 14-7 win over PURE Academy of Memphis. Winona jumped out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, but neither team did much the next two periods. The Royals scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to make it interesting.
The Tigers had 238 yards rushing and 54 passing against PURE Academy. Landon Crawford was 10-of-12 passing and ran for 95 yards on 11 carries.
Junior tailback Yoshawn Hudson had 88 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. Tavarius Eden had nine totes for 55 yards. Ayden Johnson had three catches for 14 yards.
“The one thing they had was speed, and they were able to match up with us better than any team we’ve faced this season,” Ballard added.
Alejandro White led the defense with six solo tackles and four assists. Quincy Burt had one solo and nine assists, and Dejuan McChristian had four solos and four assists. Elijah Harbin finished with four solos and one assist. McChristian also had a fumble recovery, as did Brayden Flowers.
