WINONA — In a battle of varsity Tigers, Winona’s topped Charleston’s 48-26 here Friday night, Sept. 29.
Winona improved to 6-0 while Charleston fell to 4-2.
“It was a rough night for us,” said CHS head coach LaDon Taylor.
“Obviously, we are disappointed in the outcome. At the end of the day, I have to be better. I have to do a better job of preparing those guys. The guys played hard,” he noted.
Hard, perhaps, but not universally sound.
Charleston lost five turnovers — three fumbles and two interceptions.
“Against really good teams, you can’t get away with that,” said Taylor. “We had quite a few missed assignments, as well. But that falls back on me as a coach. I’ve got to do a better job of making sure that we can follow through on our assignments better. I just need to do a better job as a head coach.”
Uncharacteristically, CHS allowed 293 yards on the ground and themselves ran for only 101 yards.
Taylor said he felt Winona’s offensive and defensive lines “played a lot more physical” than Charleston’s linemen.
“You know, games are won in the trenches, and this was definitely one game in which the trenches played a major, major factor,” he noted. “We have to figure out a way to be better in that area.”
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For Charleston, Marcus “Deuce” Flowers opened the game’s scoring with a 7-yard TD rush for a 6-0 CHS lead.
Winona responded with a 6-yard touchdown run and PAT to go up 7-6.
In the second quarter, the home team scored twice — on a run of 4 yards and a pass of 17, followed by two PATs, to go up 21-6 at the half.
Quentin Carter broke a 44-yard scoring run in the third quarter. The conversion failed and Winona led 21-12.
Winona added a third-quarter 13-yard rushing TD and a PAT to go up 28-12.
A wild fourth quarter saw five touchdowns scored.
Winona opened with a 5-yard TD pass and PAT to lead 35-12; Charleston’s Dre Riley caught a 5-yard TD pass from Devon Olive, after which David Ray caught an Olive pass for the conversion to make the score 35-20; Winona scored on a 6-yard pass to go up 41-20; Charleston’s Omar Wilson caught a 7-yard TD pass from Olive to make it 41-26; and, finally, Winona scored on a 19-yard run with PAT for the final 48-26 margin.
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Statistically, Olive completed 8-of-13 passes for two touchdowns and two interceptions. Riley caught two balls for 73 yards and one TD while Wilson had the other reception for a 7-yard score.
Flowers led CHS rushers with 23 carries for 82 yards. Carter had four for 40 yards.
Defensively, Riley had one interception for Charleston.
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Charleston penciled in Winona rather than sit out what would have been a bye week on the schedule. Every member of Region 3-2A has an open week this season.
“Ours just happened to be the very first week of [region] play,” Taylor noted. “We felt that we needed to play instead of just having a bye week. Having an opponent like [Winona], I felt it would be really good for us to show us where we are at this point, and also to keep us playing like every game is a playoff game. We want to try to keep our guys’ mindset like that.”
Taylor called the first part of the season, in which his team faced some very strong non-regional opponents, “a brutal preseason.”
“We came out of that 4-2. Obviously, you want to be 6-0, but I feel like our preseason schedule was really good and I hope and pray that it will have us completely prepared to go through the second season, which is the [region], and be ready for that third and final season, the playoffs.”
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This week, Oct. 6, Charleston hosts the 3-3 Riverside Bulldogs during homecoming at Tiger Stadium. It will be the Region 3-2A opener for CHS.
Two weeks ago, Riverside spanked now 1-5 McAdams 50-6, while last week the Bulldogs dropped a 51-0 home decision to now 4-2 Leflore County. Riverside beat West Tallahatchie 28-20 in the season opener.
Taylor said Riverside has “some really good athletes at the skill position.”
He lauded the fans for traveling to Winona last week and said he hopes for a good crowd in Charleston Friday as his team opens regional play.
Taylor said he expects his team to bounce back quickly from the Winona loss.
“Without a doubt, we expect that. We expect that passion to continue into December, as well,” he noted.
“Everything that matters starts this Friday. Everything from this point forward is very, very important. We have to attack it like it’s important.”
