Gators look for offense to click.

Both Vicksburg and Warren Central will be sitting out the Class 5A playoffs, but for the Gator players, there is plenty to play for tonight at Memorial Stadium.

&#8220Our record may be bad and people may put us down, but this game is all about respect and pride and we want to close out with a win over Warren Central,” junior receiver John Qualls said this week.

The Gators come in 4-6, far below pre-season expectations after making the playoffs last sesaon and beating WC 10-0 last year for the first time at Viking Stadium.

&#8220It’s still a big deal because a win can change the whole year,” added VHS quarterback Stanton Price. &#8220A win can put our program on the right track.”

Vicksburg comes off a 14-13 overtime win over Murrah last week in Jackson. A significant highlight in the victory was for the first time this season, the Gators had balance on offense.

Vicksburg was able to run for 172 yards and pass for 109. Delmon Robinson had a season-high 129 yards off 26 carries.

The junior running back/receiver/safety hopes to have a game like last year against WC when he ran for 159 yards in helping the Gators spring the upset.

&#8220It’s going to be a little bit of this and a little bit of that,” mused Robinson on how the Gators will use him in the &#8220Big One.”

VHS coach Alonzo Stevens says Robinson is a big factor in the Gators’ game plan.

&#8220Delmon is such a good athlete and I was pleased we were finally able to run the ball with him and expand our offense. He needs to have the ball because he’s a big time player,” Stevens said.

Still, the Gators‘ biggest strength is their passing game behind Price and his fleet set of receivers. For the season, Price has completed 120 of 207 passes for 1,421 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Senior Vernon Wolfe is the top target with 35 receptions for 612 yards and six scores. Robinson adds 253 rushing yards and 290 receiving off 34 catches.

A key, however, will be the Gators’ offensive line anchored by right guard Mark Cabatay and tackle Devin Nelson.

&#8220We’ve got to come out and play and do some things up front. We need to do the little things because this still is the biggest game to play,” Stevens said. &#8220Warren Central has got a big line and a great kicker in Eric Richards.”

Defensively, the Gators are led by defensive end Dekores Branch who has made 83 tackles this season. Linebackers Marvin Bure is next with 62 followed by Tanner Woodson with 57.

By Ernest Bowker.

Defense key to Vikings’ win.

It’s almost a surreal thought.

For only the fourth time in the last 22 years, the Warren Central Vikings know exactly when and where their season will end. The first three times, it was in Jackson at the Class 5A state championship game. This time, it will be tonight at Memorial Stadium after another slugfest with the archrival Vicksburg Gators.

WC was eliminated from playoff contention with last week’s 14-3 loss to Provine, snapping a 21-year run of postseason appearances. That makes this the earliest a Vikings team has finished up its business in more than two decades.

&#8220After 22 years this is new ground,” WC head coach Curtis Brewer said. &#8220After this week is over we’ll get the equipment up and start preparing for next season. But for now we’re focusing on this game the way we have the other 10.”

No matter how hard Brewer and the rest of the WC coaching staff tries to do that, it’s never easy when it comes to Vicksburg. The season-ending rivalry game is always a hard-fought affair pitting relatives and friends against each other.

The circumstances surrounding their 26th meeting are only upping the ante.

With both teams out of playoff contention, bragging rights and a chance to salvage a lost season are the only things on the line. Throw in the revenge factor – VHS won 10-0 at Viking Stadium last season, its first win in the series there ever – and it becomes as much of a must-win game as any in the last few weeks when both teams’ playoff lives hung in the balance.

&#8220This is our championship game. This is our playoff game, our state championship, so we have to leave everything on the field,” WC tight end Trey Robinson said. &#8220It’s do or die for us. This makes our season.”

As for the actual football, it’s a clash of differing styles.

Vicksburg utilizes a solid passing game with four talented receivers and a quarter that’s thrown for more than 1,400 yards. Keeping the receivers in front of them will be the key to slowing down the Gators, Brewer said.

&#8220They’ve just got so much speed all over the field that you have to emphasize pursuit angles, because they turn the short receptions into long ones,” Brewer said.

And if the game turns into a track meet, WC is ill-equipped to keep up.

Warren Central prefers a plodding, smashmouth approach that chews up time and keeps the score down. Quarterback Keaton Sanders has attempted only 68 passes this season, a little less than half of the 120 that Vicksburg’s Stanton Price has completed.

WC does have three different backs who have at least 350 rushing yards, but it hasn’t translated into points. Of the 173 points the Vikings have scored, 113 have been in wins over Memphis-Kirby, Greenville-Weston and Murrah. WC has not scored more than 17 in any other game.

The hole in Warren Central’s gameplan has been turnovers on both sides of the ball. The Vikings are at minus-7 in turnover differential this season. Take away the eight turnovers the defense forced in two wins over Memphis-Kirby and Murrah, and it drops to an abysmal minus-15.

The offensive miscues have often led to easy points for opponents, or simply killed WC drives deep in enemy territory.

&#8220If you take away our turnovers, our record wouldn’t be what it is,” Brewer said. &#8220We played fairly solid defense, solid ball control offense. We just shot ourselves in the foot.”

Avoiding those mistakes on Friday will be the difference in the Vikings’ putting the end of one streak behind them, and starting another. Vicksburg has never won two in a row against WC.

WC linebacker Wade Carter said his teammates have been reminding each other about last year’s loss, and it’d be nice to put an end to it.

&#8220That’s all they’ve been saying is 10-0,” said Carter, who leads the Vikings with 102 tackles. &#8220They don’t want the same thing to happen again this year, because you’re going to hear about it for the rest of your life.”