Perhaps tonight is the night the Indianola Academy Colonels will taste victory.
The timing could not be better if this happened as the 0-4 Colonels could possibly couple their first win of the season with a District 2-3A victory.
With kickoff at Central Holmes Christian School in Lexington to occur at 7 p.m., the Colonels will also be playing the second of a three-game run of road trips on their schedule.
Coming into tonight’s game after falling 17-0 to Winona Christian School last Friday night, the Colonels will face a Trojans squad owning a 1-3, 1-0 record.
Last week the Lexington squad dropped a 42-7 decision to Greenville Christian School.
Despite other losses to Kirk Academy of Grenada (22-8) and Oak Hill Academy of West Point (38-28), the Trojans opened their district play three weeks ago with a 54-28 victory over Sylva Bay Academy of Bay Springs.
“Central Holmes has a good quarterback that can hurt you running the ball,” said IA Head Coach Tommy Nester. “We will have to contain him.”
Last season, the Trojans accumulated a 6-7 record but got hot in the playoffs.
Their final game in 2022 was in the 3A championship game where they finished as runner-up to Canton Academy.
The Colonels inflicted one of those losses on Central Holmes last year with a hard-fought 28-24 victory.
Overall, the Colonels own a 3-1 series advantage over the Trojans.
As for last week’s game with Winona Christian, the Colonels were hampered by injuries to key players and received strong efforts from several young players on the field. Coach Nester noted “Our defense kept us in the game and the kids played hard. That is all you can ask them to do.”
Indeed, the Colonels did keep the game within striking distance as the now 3-2 Winona Christian School Stars owned a narrow 7-0 lead at halftime.
That initial score came with only 3:52 remaining in the first half and the Stars would not score again until there were but 53 seconds left in the third quarter.
That 22-yard field goal gave the Stars a 10-0 lead which stood until a mid-fourth quarter touchdown pass took the game to its final margin.
Defensively, the Colonels were led by Walker Perkins’ stellar night of play. The senior’s efforts garnered seven solos, six assists, two sacks, and three tackles for losses.
The Colonels were also led by Abel Williamson’s performance. The defensive back recorded nine solo tackles, two assists, and one forced fumble.
Other defensive leaders included Brycen Stevens (5 solos, 4 assists, 2 tackles for loss) and Blaine Fleming (5 solos, 2 assists).
