[11/1/03]GRENADA Larry Warner’s legs carried Warren Central to the verge of a Region 2-5A championship.

The diminutive junior rushed for 216 yards on 33 carries his third 200-plus rushing effort in the last four games and scored a pair of touchdowns as the Vikings (7-3, 5-1) beat Grenada 24-14. The victory sets up a showdown with archrival Vicksburg High on Friday night for the region championship.

“The line did it,” said Warner who ripped off touchdown runs of 56 and 2 yards. “If it wasn’t for the line, my fullback and receivers, there wouldn’t be a me. I couldn’t do it without them.”

The Vikings, with a win over Vicksburg, will also lay claim to their first outright region title since 1994.

“I’m very proud of our effort tonight,” Warren Central coach Robert Morgan said. “This is just a step in the direction we want to go. We are not making a big deal of it, we are just thankful to the Lord for giving us the strength to have this type of effort.”

With Warner’s running and a stingy Viking defense, the Chargers only managed to score on a long pass before halftime and off a botched punt snap late in the fourth quarter.

The defense also intercepted quarterback Jeremy Watson three times and recovered two fumbles. Jason Williams picked off a pair of passes, while Otis Stamps intercepted another. One of Williams interceptions came off a Jesse Pedyfoot deflection.

“You just can’t turn the ball over that many times and expect to beat good ball teams,” Grenada coach John McCrory said. “Our story has been we play good at times, and at times we don’t. We are not consistent.”

On the night, the defense batted down several passes and harassed the Chargers’ standout quarterback. Watson finished with 156 yards passing and a touchdown.

“I tried to use my height to the best of my ability to knock those passes down,” said WC lineman Kenny Stewart, who had two pass deflections. “We have a good defense and we wanted to keep things tight and our heads up.”

Warren Central scored first 11 seconds into the second quarter on a Will Clark 41-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. After a fumble recovery by Michael Robinson, the Vikings drove the ball 29 yards in 3 minutes, 37 seconds and capped the drive with Warner’s first touchdown, a 2-yardder, for a 10-0 lead.

Grenada got on the scoreboard after a WC punt with a minute to play in the quarter on an 80-yard strike from Watson to Marcus Wiggins.

“We didn’t let it get us down,” Stewart said of the long TD pass. “We never let something like that get us down.”

Warren Central capitalized on another Grenada turnover early in the third quarter, driving 41 yards in 5 plays. The drive was capped by sophomore fullback Dexter Carson’s 1-yard plunge for a 17-7 lead.

Warner put the game away one minute into the fourth quarter when the 5-foot-6, 140-pounder broke through several Grenada defenders and scampered 56 yards for his second touchdown and a 24-7 WC lead.

“We knew we had to tackle him and we didn’t do that tonight,” McCrory said.

Grenada scored its last touchdown with 4 minutes to play in the game, but the Vikings recovered an onside kick to ice the victory.

Carson ran for 64 yards on 15 carries for WC, while quarterback Christian Hales completed 6 of 13 passes for 83 yards.

Warren Central, which has never lost to Vicksburg at Viking Stadium, will kick off with the Gators at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

“As far as our team is concerned,” Morgan said, “we have just begun to fight.”