After a brutal four-game stretch to open the season against Class 4A teams, the Central Holmes Trojans finally got to play some Class 3A competition.
The Trojans rolled up 388 yards of total offense and took a 48-10 win over Delta Streets on Friday night.
Central Holmes improves to 1-4 on the season and will travel to Winona Christian on Friday night.
Central Holmes Mitch Womack was finally able to see his team play against similar-sized schools.
“I thought our kids played hard and played more physical on defense than we have played in several weeks,” Womack said. “The previous four weeks got us ready for the second half of the season. We had a few miscues but from the standpoint of effort, our kids played their tails off. I thought our offensive line did a great job of opening holes and our backs did a good job of running hard. I thought the difference in the game was the way our line and fronts controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage.”
The Trojans came out strong as Lamarian Buchanan scored two first-quarter touchdowns on runs of 1 and 17 yards. Pat Lindsey booted both PATs and the Trojans led 14-0 at the half.
The Trojans continued to pour on the points in the second quarter as John Ward scored on runs of 70 and 2 yards. Lane Womack recovered a fumble in the end zone and the Trojans led 34-10 at the half.
The Trojans kept on adding to the lead in the second half as Buchanan scored on a 9-yard run in the third and Mason Wiesel scored on a 3-yard run in the fourth for the final margin.
“We are able to get some younger kids in there in the third,” Womack said. “We were trying to build some depth as we get ready for district. Lamarian and John had a good night. The reads are getting a lot better by our quarterback. Lamarian is running harder and had a really god night.”
The Trojans had 355 yards rushing and 33 passing for 388 yards of total offense. Buchanan ended the night with 131 yards on 15 carries with three TDs. Ward had 113 yards on eight carries with two TDs. Mason Wiysel had 37 yards on eight carries with a TD while Mike Jones had 31 yards on three carries. Ward was 2-of-3 passing with both completions to John Hudson Ward.
“That’s really how our offense should be,” Womack said. “I want to run the ball and control the clock and maybe throw it about five times a game. We took about eight minutes off the clock to start the third quarter and really ground it out. If we do that and play good defense and take up some clock, we will win some football games.”
On defense, Mike Jones led the way with nine tackles while John Riley had eight stops. Aiden Adcock had seven tackles while Wiysel had six stops. Ward and Eli Carr each had five tackles while Josh Robinson, Bryan Gallagher, Ashton Tate, Logan Engle and Carson Burrell each had four tackles apiece.
This week’s game
The Trojans will try to make it two in a row as they travel to Winona Christian on Friday to open district play.
Winona Christian is 3-2 on the season. After losing 42-6 to Carroll in the opener, the Stars beat French Camp (35-28), Oak Hill (40-28) and Benton (35-0). They lost 35-6 to Winston Academy last week.
“Their fronts are pretty good and they will play physical,” Womack said. “It’s a rivalry game and will be an emotional game and we have to keep that in check. They will come in ready to play. They run a similar scheme to us so it’s not going to be anything unfamiliar. They do a lot of reads so we are going to have to keep our eyes on our keys.”
Last year, Central Holmes own 24-6.
