The news of Clinton High’s 26-18 victory over Provine began to filter through the Warren Central sidelines in the closing seconds of the Vikings most dominating performance of the season. It was a dagger to the heart on an otherwise glorious night at Viking Stadium.

Travis Bell and Michael Smith ran for two touchdowns each and the Vikings clobbered Grenada 52-6 in the season finale for both teams.

Warren Central needed Provine to defeat Clinton to earn a playoff berth, but the Arrows scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to extend a one-point lead and advance to the Class 5A state playoffs. Warren Central ended its season at 4-7.

“I’m glad for the seniors to win this game,” Warren Central coach Curtis Brewer said. “In Class 5A football, you have to be able to control your own destiny and not wait for someone to help you out. We just came up short. I won’t say we didn’t get any breaks, but we didn’t make any breaks to turn a game or two our way.”

Warren Central could have stamped its ticket last week by beating Provine, but two big plays — including a late fourth-quarter touchdown pass — gave the Rams a 14-9 victory. It was the latest in a long list of close losses for the Vikings in Region 2-5A.

WC lost to region champion Madison Central by seven, Northwest Rankin by six and Provine by five. They opened the year falling to nationally ranked South Panola by 12 points in the Red Carpet BowlClassic, fell by a touchdown to Vicksburg and two points to South Pike.

On Friday night, they would have nothing of it.

“We wanted to win and make sure we did our part,” said Bell, a senior running back who led all rushers with 118 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns. “It was a big game for the seniors. We wanted to end the season with a bang.”

Warren Central took the opening kickoff and drove it 65 yards in 12 plays — all runs by either Bell or Joel Forbes — and took a 6-0 lead on a 1-yard plunge by Bell. Forbes ran for 92 yards on 19 carries, but did not play for most of the second half after he left with a minor injury.

Sophomore Willie Fields played most of the second half and ran for 77 yards on 12 carries and scored the game’s final touchdown on a 4-yard run. Smith added two scoring runs and had 38 yards rushing. In all, eight Vikings carried the ball at least once.

“The offensive line, I can’t say enough about them,” Bell said. “It was one of the best games they have played.”

WC’s defense wasn’t bad either, holding the Chargers to 164 yards of total offense. Grenada didn’t score a touchdown until Jeremy Spencer scored on a 1-yard dive midway through the fourth quarter and the Vikings already ahead 45-0. A rash of personal fouls penalties against the Chargers marred the second half.

The Chargers gained only 98 yards on the ground and 66 through the air.

Ben Wau Caples scored a second-quarter touchdown on an 8-yard run and Quinton Truly hauled in an 18-yard scoring pass from quarterback Keaton Sanders to put WC ahead 19-0 late in the first half. A bad punt snap resulted in a safety seconds before halftime and WC went in with a 21-0 lead.

Bell had a 37-yard TD run and Smith scored the first of his touchdowns in the third quarter. Those, coupled with a Jared Thames 32-yard field goal gave WC a 38-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter, which exceeded WC’s previous high score of 28 points against Clinton earlier in the year.

“For the loyal fans that came out and watched us and kept up with us, they know the kids played hard,” Brewer said. “There was no quit in them. They played hard every game.”