Matt Vines

COUSHATTA – Red River receiver Lathyn Lewis had a night to remember with five total touchdowns Friday, but the Bulldogs didn’t have an answer for Winnfield’s rushing attack.

The Tigers bulled their way to a 68-39 win to open District 4-2A play.

Red River (1-5, 0-1) used its athletes to slow down an explosive Logansport offense this past week, but the Bulldogs couldn’t solve Winnfield’s Wing-T attack as the Tigers ate up huge chunks of yards on the edges.

Winnfield (4-2, 1-0) scored three of the first four touchdowns to build a comfortable lead, started by a Preston Wilson 10-yard touchdown.

Red River’s offense didn’t have problems moving the ball either, and quarterback Ashton Johnson responded with a 11-yard touchdown scamper to tie the game 6-6.

Winnfield powered through on the next touchdown by Dalton Powell before Braylen Butler got in on the action with a 52-yard touchdown run.

Between those Winnfield touchdowns was a failed fourth down attempt from Red River in Winnfield territory.

Red River missed a chance on the next possession with a Johnson interception, one of three Winnfield interceptions on the night.

But the Bulldogs still scored a season-high 39 points as Winnfield’s defense didn’t have a ton of answers outside of the forced turnovers.

The explosive Lewis took a swing pass 59 yards to slice Winnfield’s lead to 22-13 in the second quarter.

Winnfield’s Kenneth Richard, who later left the game with a left leg injury, scored from 23 yards away to put the Tigers up 30-13.

Lewis was deadly on the edge, and he found paydirt from 27 yards away to keep Red River within reach at 30-19.

But Winnfield stuck a dagger in by engineering a late first-half scoring drive punctuated by a Wilson five-yard touchdown run for a 38-19 halftime edge.

The Bulldogs threatened late in the half before Winnfield’s Powell intercepted a pass to end the drive.

Winnfield forced a rare punt to start the second half before Wilson’s third touchdown of the night put the Tigers up 46-19.

Lewis flashed his special teams value with a punt return touchdown of 50 yards to pull within 46-25 in the third quarter.

But Winnfield quarterback Nickalas Mockosher got in on the action with the first of his two rushing scores.

Lewis caught two more touchdown passes from Johnson to wrap up Red River’s scoring.

Johnson had a hand in five touchdowns himself, one rushing and four passing – all to Lewis.

Red River will see another team who leans on its power rushing attack when Many (1-5) rolls into Coushatta next week.

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