Warren Central’s Rusty Waites (19) grimaces as he defends Madison Central’s Matt Ellis during the first half Tuesday.(Jon GiffinThe Vicksburg Post)

[11/26/03]One good shot was all Madison Central needed to withstand Warren Central’s best one.

Ryan Epps ripped a shot past WC keeper Luke Sellers early in the second half and second-ranked Madison Central survived several golden scoring chances by the Vikings to win, 1-0.

It was the latest in a string of games against ranked teams for WC, which will face its fourth top-10 team in two weeks Monday at No. 6 Madison-St. Joe.

“In the past four days we’ve played four teams in the top 15, and beaten one of them, lost to one on a penalty kick, tied another and lost tonight 1-0,” WC coach Jay Harrison. “So we know, compared to these powerhouses from the North side, we’re there.”

Madison’s Joseph Presley was red-carded and ejected for a hard foul at the 26-minute mark of the first half. It was the second of six cards issued in the game and forced the Jaguars to play with 10 men for the rest of the game.

Madison also received three yellows and WC (4-2-1) got two yellows. Most of the cards were for hard fouls.

Despite the man advantage and plenty of good chances sprinkled throughout the game, however, the Vikings were unable to sneak a goal past Madison keeper Warren Arnold.

Arnold stopped WC’s Dusty Pennington on a breakaway late in the first half, then survived a three-shot barrage off a direct kick early in the second. Arnold stopped the first one and deflected the second before the third went wide and the Jaguars (4-3) were able to clear the ball.

(G) Madison Central 2, WC 0

Warren Central played solid defense and got great goal keeping from seventh-grader Julie Waddle, but had no offensive punch in a shutout loss to the Lady Jags.

Waddle made 18 saves and got a piece of the two goals she allowed both by Ashiel Evans but Madison outshot WC 31-0. The Lady Vikes (3-4) only pushed deep into Madison territory on a few occasions, and the only plays the Lady Jags’ keepers had to make were on balls kicked back to them by their teammates.

“We’ve been a little off offensively. We’ve struggled with connecting offensively,” WC coach Kristin Gough said. “The girls are working hard, and it’s going to come. It’s going to take time. We’re a very young team.”

(G) Brandon 17, St. Al 0

An expected mismatch between Class 5A powerhouse Brandon, ranked No. 7, and St. Aloysius, a Class 1A team in its first season as a program, was made worse when several Lady Flashes missed the game due to illness.

Brandon took an 8-0 halftime lead against St. Al, which used only 10 players and was without leading goal-scorer Andrea Harrison, as well as key players Erin Sigh and Krista McCollum.

St. Al’s boys were also pounded by Brandon, losing 15-0.