JACKSON — Warren Central had Provine right where they wanted them. The Rams faced a fourth-and-20 from the Viking 29 with seven minutes to go and WC guarding a 9-7 lead.

Rams’ quarterback Nickoe Whitley then found Dondrego Cooper in the back of the end zone for a 29-yard touchdown pass and that proved to be the difference in Provine’s 14-9 win over Warren Central Friday night at Hughes Field.

The loss drops WC to 3-3 in Region 2-5A and the Vikings no longer have control of their playoff destiny. In order to advance to the Class 5A playoffs, WC will have to beat Grenada at home and then hope Provine (9-1, 5-1) wins at Clinton in the regular season finale. That would leave WC and Clinton tied at 4-3 with the Vikings moving on because of last week’s 28-23 win over the Arrows.

The Rams should be motivated, since a win would give them the region title after Madison Central held off Northwest Rankin 19-17 Friday night. Provine and Madison are now tied for first in the region at 5-1, but the Rams defeated Madison Central 28-26 and own the head-to-head tiebreaker.

“They’re going to need us to beat Clinton and we want to, too because then we win the region since Madison won tonight,” Provine coach Willie Collins said. “This was a tough ball game for us but it’s always like this with Warren Central. We have a good rivalry. We know they come to play.”

The Vikings (4-6) did that, dominating the line of scrimmage by outrushing the bigger Rams 202 to 53.

Provine, though, used two big turnovers by the Vikings, along with the fourth down conversion to pull out the win.

“They got a big play and we made some bad plays. We just got to come back and play next week against Grenada,” WC coach Curtis Brewer said.

Leading 6-0 after Travis Bell scored on a 54-yard run on the Vikings’ first possession, WC was driving to a two-score advantage when Maxie Graham came untouched on a blitz. His hit on WC quarterback Keaton Sanders knocked the ball loose. He then grabbed it and ran 55 yards for the touchdown.

“That was a pretty good play on Maxie’s part to hit the kid and then get it and run it back for the score,” Collins said.

“Our back side got us and No. 23 (Graham) has a lot of speed,” Brewer said.

William Amos added the PAT to give Provine a 7-6 lead with 7:31 left in the second quarter.

WC was on the march again midway through the third quarter as Sanders completed a 15-yard pass to Cordell Valentine and Joel Forbes ripped off a 10-yard run to give the Vikings a first down at the Ram 13. WC made it to the 5 before a third down fumble forced them to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Jared Thames on the first play of the fourth quarter. Thames’ kick made it 9-7 with 11:55 left.

Provine answered going 65 yards in nine plays. A 17-yard run by Willie Hawkins and a 17-yard pass to Chris Bratton from Whitley moved the Rams to the Viking 19.

The next three plays, though, lost 10 yards to set up fourth down from the WC 29. Whitley found Cooper in between two Viking defenders for the score.

“We were in a zone and he just dropped it off right in the hole,” Brewer said.

Down 14-9 with 6:59 remaining, the Vikings put together another drive, getting a pair of first downs to the Provine 34.

With 3:40 to go, WC had a fourth-and-4 from the Ram 24. Sanders tried to go over the middle but the Rams’ Devonte Manuel picked off the pass and returned it 70 yards to the WC 14.

The Vikings stopped the Rams on downs, getting the ball back with 2:12 left, but Sanders misfired on his last three passes and the Rams retook possession to end the game.

The loss spoiled a good overall game by Forbes and Bell. Forbes had 110 yards on 24 carries while Bell rushed for 84 yards and caught three passes for 28 yards.

Whitley led Provine by going 4-for-7 passing for 90 yards.