WINONA — For the sixth time in the last seven years, Noxubee County is headed back to the state championship game.

Behind a potent rushing attack from Jadien Taylor and Jykeim Goodwin, the Tigers dominated Winona 54-21 to claim the MHSAA Class 3A North State Championship at Tiger Field on Friday night in an all-Tiger matchup.

Noxubee County (11-3) will face Raleigh for the Class 3A State Championship at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium at noon Dec. 6.

“Jadien and Jykeim (are) a great one-two punch and they’re our leaders. We challenged the offensive line all week to be physical and they carried us offensively, so we could run the ball the way we were able to,” said Noxubee County coach Teddy Young. “All offseason our motto has been to get back to the state championship game and finish. This time we got to finish.”

Winona got on the board first on the game’s opening drive to take a 7-0 lead on a Landon Crawford 17-yard touchdown run with 8:03 left in the first quarter.

Noxubee immediately answered as Goodwin scampered 15 yards to the end zone to tie the game up 7-7 with 7:44 remaining.

Winona regained the lead 14-7 on a Tavarius Eden 12-yard touchdown run with 6:37 left in the first quarter.

Noxubee answered to tie the game up at 14 on a Taylor 1-yard run with 58 seconds left in the first quarter.

The second quarter was all Noxubee as the Tigers outscored Winona 19-0 with Goodwin scoring three rushing touchdowns from 4, 36, and 9 yards out to give Noxubee a 33-14 halftime lead.

Winona’s final touchdown came on the opening drive of the second half as Crawford found Dee Hudson on a 22-yard touchdown pass to cut the Noxubee lead to 33-21 with 7:03 left in the third quarter.

Taylor added a 1-yard touchdown run and a 17-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to give Noxubee a 48-21 lead to seal the win.

Taylor, a Mississippi State commit, finished with 159 yards on 27 carries with three touchdowns.

“Me and Jykeim are a one-two punch, we pick each other up and when they scored on the first two drives, we knew we had to score and knew we had to win so we can get back to state,” Taylor said. “They slept on me for Mr. Football in 3A, so I got to put on a show and playing at the college I’m committed to is just perfect.”

Goodwin had 154 yards rushing on 25 carries and four touchdowns to lead Noxubee.

“We just pound the ball, trust the offensive line, and just leaned on them,” Goodwin said. “When we got the lead we had to keep the lead and the momentum and defense stepped up big. Going back to state and this time we’re going to get it.”

The Noxubee defense held Winona to just 175 yards of total offense.

“Defensively we started off slow but turned it up in the second half and got stops when we needed them,” Young said. “This time we took care of the ball and not turned it over, we ran the ball and controlled the clock. We just got to keep the momentum going and getting back to the state championship against a team that beat us in the state championship game, so we got to give it all we got next week.”

Winona finished the season 9-5.