The Winn Parish Journal is pleased to announce that readers can look forward to knowledgeable coverage of WSHS football this fall thanks to the writing contributions of Daniel Simmons. The 2020 graduate of WSHS played varsity football as a tight end for the Tigers for the 2017-19 seasons under head coach Lyn Bankston.
Just like a trailer for an upcoming movie, the Journal has a preview of our coverage. Simmons covered a recent all-Tiger 7-on-7 here and filed the following report:
WSHS Football Participates in Home 7-on-7 with LaSalle and Montgomery
Tuesday evening, June 20, at Stokes-Walker Stadium, the Winnfield Tigers hosted the Tigers from LaSalle High School and the Tigers from Montgomery High School for their first 7-on-7 of the season. As the name might suggest, 7-on-7 football is not played with a full squad of 11 players on the field at a time.
The purpose of a 7-on-7 is for the quarterbacks and receivers on offense and the linebackers and defensive backs on defense to get extra practice against other teams. The only lineman involved is the center, to hike the ball to the quarterback. Score is not kept in a 7-on-7; it is more of a glorified practice with other teams.
The hometown Tigers fought through the intense heat and humidity and made plays on both sides of the ball. They reached the end zone several times on offense, even connecting on a few deep passes for touchdowns. Defensively, they intercepted a few passes and made several other stops. Overall, it was a solid first outing for the 2023 edition of Winnfield Tiger Football.
“We have four 7-on-7s scheduled for the summer,” said WSHS head coach Jay Watson. “They are really good practice for us defensively, as a lot of other teams are spread offenses and throw the ball quite often. We feel like we are solid on five of our seven starters in the back end of our defense, and they have shown improvement through competition. We are rotating guys to see what our best combinations are that will give us the best chance to stop people this coming season. But that stuff is just playing football in P.E. shorts. We’ll know more in August when we strap it up.”
Speaking of strapping it up, the real football season is right around the corner, a little bit less than two months away. Winnfield will open its season with an away game on Friday, September 1, where they will take on the Pineville Rebels.
Simmons will be filing more pre-season stories including interviews with Coach Watson on his season preview as well as details on the Tiger coaching staff and Jamboree action. Read about the full action in the Winn Parish Journal.
