Vikings’ physical play outlasts Cougars, 29-13

Published 12:00 am Monday, October 21, 2002

[10/19/02]Warren Central maintained its place in the ranks of the unbeaten on Friday, outlasting Northwest Rankin 29-13 in a physical game that left both teams battered and bruised.

Henry Williams rushed for 108 yards and two touchdowns, and the Vikings (8-0, 4-0 Region 2-5A) scored on all three of their second-half possessions to hold off the pesky Cougars (3-5, 1-3).

Richmond Fields added 102 total yards and a touchdown for the Vikings, and Larry King caught three passes for 28 yards and one touchdown.

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“It’s awfully good to be 8-0 and still have things you can correct on. Our team has a lot of promise,” WC coach Robert Morgan said.

Northwest Rankin managed just 202 yards of total offense and was forced to use its third-string tailback after its top two running backs were injured. Several WC players were also hobbled by the end of the game.

“I’m not bragging on that, but boy we hit them,” Morgan said. “It was a bunch of little wars out there, and we won most of them.”

The Vikings looked like they might run away with the game early, but a pair of first-half turnovers allowed Northwest Rankin to hang around.

After Northwest went ahead 3-0 late in the first quarter, WC answered with a quick six-play, 63-yard drive capped by Williams’ 1-yard TD run to take a 6-3 lead.

A bad snap nixed the extra point attempt, but the Viking defense forced a fumble on the next play from scrimmage and Fields scored on a 4-yard run six plays later to make it 13-3.

A muffed punt led to another Northwest field goal, however, and a fumble killed another drive to leave the score at 13-6 at halftime.

After forcing Northwest to punt on the opening possession of the second half, WC seized control of the game with another quick scoring drive. Williams capped the six-play, 72-yard march with a bruising touchdown run that symbolized the entire game.

On third-and-2 from the Northwest 36, Williams got the call on a fullback dive and easily picked up the first down. He broke two tackles as he crossed the 35, then several more as he approached the 30. Finally, he broke free and outran the rest of the defense for the score.

As the Vikings celebrated, two Northwest Rankin players were still shaken up on the ground near the line of scrimmage. A third, left in Williams’ dust, seemed dazed as he checked on them.

“Give Warren Central credit for what they did. They ran hard and were hard to tackle,” Northwest coach David Coates said.

The extra point was blocked, and Northwest came right back with a long touchdown drive to cut it to 19-13. Will Clark’s 37-yard field goal with 9:11 to play in the game increased the lead to 22-13, and the Viking special teams made up for their earlier miscues with a big play three minutes later.

After a Northwest drive sputtered out at the WC 23-yard line, Coates opted to try for a field goal on fourth-and-9. The kick was blocked, WC took over at its 20, and the Vikings drove the length of the field, taking all but 17 seconds off the clock.

“We thought we had a chance to win until they blocked the field goal … We had 8 or 9 yards to go, and we had to have a field goal anyway. If it had been shorter, I might have gone for it,” Coates said.

Jeremy Ferguson finished WC’s final drive with a short 4-yard TD pass to Larry King on third down. The score put the game out of reach at 29-13, but with the clock running and Northwest out of timeouts, WC could have just as easily finished the game with a kneeldown.

“It was going back-and-forth. We knew it was going to be a hard game from the start, but we just pulled away for the win,” Williams said. “It was more physical than I thought it was going to be. That’s the kind of game we live for.”