It's true that the Winston Patriots are 0-2 on the season!! BUT, they have opened the season with two very strong opponents in their respective districts. Winston fell to a powerful Leake team in their opener, that came from a 30-6 halftime deficit to win over Jackson Acacemy 47-37. Then this past Friday night at Patriot Field, Winston dropped a heartbreaker to Winona Christian 22-14 after coming from behind to tie the score at 14-14 with 59 ticks left on the scoreboard clock, Winona, coached by legendary and former Patriot head coach, Junior Graham, brought a small in number, but powerful and explosive team, lead by a recent Winona High School transfer running back. With 17 seconds left, this new addition to Coach Graham's squad added the go ahead victory score to send the Patriots to 0-2. The opening quarter went scoreless for both teams but was promising for the Patriots as Will Catt recovered a Winona fumble at the Winston 10 yard line with 5:45 left in the opener. Then deep in the second quarter, Winona put the first points on the board with a 35 yard interception return and the PAT failing to take the 6-0 lead with 4:50 left before intermission. After a Winston punt, Johnson Wells stopped another Winona scoring drive when he recovered a fumble at the Winston 32 yard line . Trailing to start the second half, Winston answered right back when Brylee Wall connected with Johnson Wells for a 16 yard scoring pass. Their PAT also failed, but Winston had tied the game a 6-6 with 7:08 left in the third quarter. Winona then put their new Winona transfer to work as he scampered 43 yards for the scored and then added the 2 point conversion to go up 14-6 with 3:11 remaining in the third. As the teams punted back and forth for the remainder of the third and deep into the final quarter of play, the Patriots put a scoring drive together that started at their own 20 yard line with 6:40 left in the game. With 59 seconds remaining, Wall found his primary receiver Wells and connected with a 6 yard scoring pass. Wall then carried the 2 point conversion over to tie the game at 14-14. Starting with good field position after an on side kick attempt, Winona started at near midfield . After moving down to the Winston 2 yard line the new transfer for Coach Graham, added the go ahead score and also added the 2 point try to end all scoring and take the 22-14 victory back to Winona. With Winston earning more total offense on the night, they were lead in rushing by Jett Joiner with 28 yards and followed by Curry Black with 27 yards. Brylee Wall completed 15 of 29 attempts for 232 yards and 2 touchdowns, while suffering 2 interceptions. His leading receiver was Johnson Wells with 93 yards on 7 catches and 2 touchdowns. He was followed by Cam Sanders and Will Catt, each with 54 yards on 3 receptions. Michael Majors added 31 yards on 2 catches. The defense saw Jack Wooten lead the charge with 9 tackles. He was followed by Tanner Boatner with 7, and Michael Majors and Johnson Wells, each with 5. Wells also Will Catt each had a fumble recovery. So as the Patriots have heal their broken hearts after the loss, they need to get ready to welcome East Rankin from Pelahatchie to Patriot FIeld. Game time is set for 7 PM. Patriots looking to improve consistency against ERA By Robbie Faulk Winston County Journal It was another loss on Friday for Winston Academy but progress was the name of the game for head coach Pat Byrd. The Patriots were coming off a tough 56-0 blowout loss to rival Leake Academy the week before and still licking their wounds as they went up against Winona Christian and former coach Junior Graham. Though they tied the ball game late with a touchdown, there were mistakes that they made that led to defeat. WA jumped offside on the ensuing kickoff, kicked the ball out of bounds on the next try and then gave the Stars great field position. A personal foul on the drive gave Winona more opportunities before they scored the winning touchdown with 15 seconds left. It gave Byrd more teaching points for practice this week. “We won the stat game which is absolutely useless. We had missed opportunities and struggled on offense in the first half. We played pretty well on defense and it was an overall improvement but we’ve just got to learn how to be more efficient,” Byrd said.” Things went similarly in the first two games last year expect the Patriots were noticeably better against the Stars than a year ago. After losing 43-0 to Leake, WA dropped a 32-13 decision to Winona Christian. The week following they lost by one point to East Rankin, the team next on the schedule. In order for the Patriots to continue to progress forward, a win this week is crucial. “It’s just experience and having been there and done it,” Byrd said of the Patriots’ issues thus far. “The biggest thing that we’ve got is the lack of consistency. We’ve got to learn how to put those plays together and not every other play. When we do that, we’re pretty effective and when we’re not we’re average.” Byrd is going up against another former MHSAA head coach this week as he did last week when former Union coach Brad Breland brings his East Rankin (1-1) team to town. After beating Central Holmes 34-6 in the opening weekend, they had a 24-20 loss last week to Marshall. Byrd knows he’ll get a well-coached team on Friday and that his team will be ready. He’s ready to get back to work. “They’ll be well-coached. We’re at the point where the opponent matters, but our main thing is to get efficient at what we do,” Byrd said. “Sometimes you try to do too much and we’re at the point where we’re trying to streamline a little bit.” Game time at Patriot Field on Friday night at 7 p.m.
