Tornadoes try to regroup following Winona loss

This will be a week of soul searching for the Philadelphia High School football team as they regroup following Friday night’s 57-14 loss to Class 3A powerhouse Winona.

The Tornadoes, now 2-2, will be back home Friday night when they host West Lauderdale. The Knights come in with a 3-1 record following their 49-15 win over Southeast Lauderdale last week.

“We got embarrassed but it could have been different,” Coach David Frey said. “We had turnovers on offense and our defense couldn’t stop them. We aren’t there yet. We could have played with them.

“When the offense is clicking and we don’t have turnovers, we are in the game. We are going to have to step up. And if we don’t against West Lauderdale, it’s going to be another long night.”

The first quarter was scoreless but Winona scored three touchdowns in a row in the second quarter to go up 21-0. Philadelphia got on the scoreboard when quarterback Marcus Beamon scored on a two-yard run. Adrian Luke kicked the extra points and the Tornadoes trailed 21-7 at the half.

Winona settled the issue in the third quarter with three unanswered touchdowns and led 42-7 going into the final quarter.

The Tigers added a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Then the Tornadoes scored again when Beamon ran in from six yards out. Luke’s kick was good and the Tornadoes trailed 49-14 with 10:29 left to play. The Tigers would add one more touchdown.

Frey said the Tornadoes would go back to work on the practice field, adding there would be some formation changes coming.

“I expect we will play better this week,” Frey said. “This team has worked hard. They came in Sunday and watched the film. We’ll learn from this and move on.”