State Championship Preview: 3A

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The State title matchups are all set and will begin this Thursday with the 1A and 5A matchups followed by 2A and 6A on Friday and 3A, 4A and 7A on Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Check out our preview of all the action below, continuing with 3A:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Who</strong>: Winona (14-0) vs. Noxubee County (10-4)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>When</strong>: 3:30pm, Saturday, December 2nd.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>What to watch for:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Winona</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It is hard to believe that Winona is going for their first state championship after all the talent they have had over the years. QB [player_tooltip player_id='1121288' first='Chase' last='Richardson'] is a true duel threat guy as he has thrown for 1,900 yards with 25 TDs thru the air and ran for 1,229 yards and 17 more TD's on the ground. Up front Richardson is protected by Mississippi State commit T.J. Lockhart who is appointment viewing. Defensively the Tigers have given up points at times thru the year but feel really good about their linebacking corp led by another MSU commit [player_tooltip player_id='139603' first='Fred' last='Clark'] and one of the state's top LB prospects for 2025 in [player_tooltip player_id='1126766' first='Tyler' last='Lockhart']. The Tigers have scored 49 plus points in each playoff game leading to the state title.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Noxubee County</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Noxubee County is much more familiar with the state championships, having last won in 2017 which was their 5th all time. Mississippi State commit for 2025 [player_tooltip player_id='648939' first='Kamario' last='Taylor'] has been among the top QBs in the state this year and his stats back it up with 3,282 yards passing for 45 TDs and 789 yards rushing for 15 more TDs. Taylor's favorite target thru the air is [player_tooltip player_id='123210' first='Dequadrion' last='Welch'] who has 1,384 yards receiving and 20 TDs. Defensively the Tigers are solid on the front line led by Teddy Roby and his 100 plus tackles and at linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='1351218' first='Ekamryn' last='Smith'] leads them with 138 tackles. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Key to the game:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both offenses have potential to take off and create a basketball type score.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->