Warren Central middle linebacker Jericho Harris thinks his Vikings may have thought they were better than what they were after reeling off three straight wins.

A 49-0 loss to top-ranked Madison Central smacked the club back to reality. The Vikings responded up by putting together a workmanlike 14-0 win over Murrah last Friday at Viking Stadium. The win vaults WC (5-3) into a second-place tie with the Arrows (6-1), 3-1 in Region 2-6A, heading into this week’s clash at Clinton.

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Friday, 7 p.m. 105.5 FM – Warren Central at Clinton

“You know, I think we got the big head after we had that three-game winning streak,” Harris said after the Viking defense got a much needed boost going into Clinton. The Vikings came up with 11 tackles for loss, took advantage of a bad punt snap and got a fourth quarter interception by Harris as they earned a shutout.

Before going to Madison Central, the Vikings had moved into playoff contention with wins over Northwest Rankin (27-26) and Greenville-Weston (12-0) along with a non-region win at Natchez (26-23). The Vikings have Clinton as the last road region game and then will close out the regular season at home against the winless Vicksburg Gators (0-7, 0-4) and Grenada, whose only region win was 7-6 over Vicksburg.

“Second place is still out there for us. We just have to get after Clinton and then come home and get those last two. But we just have to take it one step at a time,” Harris said.

The Vikings will have to dial in another good game from its defensive front, which was instrumental in stopping a balanced Murrah attack. The Mustangs ran well early but lost standout tailback Greg Riley to a knee injury in the second quarter.

“When No. 24 (Riley) went down, that took away a playmaker,” WC coach Curtis Brewer said. “But we still had to play hard because they have so much talent elsewhere. Because it was wet, and we had a lead, we went a little conservative on offense. I also didn’t think we did that well on special teams.”

Warren Central attempted just four passes and the one pass they completed for a 31-yard gain was called back because of a 5-yard motion penalty. The Vikings also had a field goal blocked.

Tim Jones again provided much of the Viking offense, running for 137 yards on 26 carries, including touchdowns of 15 and 11 yards. The senior needed just 17 yards to go over 1,000 yards this season and after eight games, he enters Clinton week with 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Harris’ interception set up the Jones’ last score.

“One of the D-lineman tipped the ball for me. I just have to thank Tim Comans, because he was drawing constant double teams,” Harris said.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com