OLIVE BRANCH — A big advantage in speed turned into several big scoring plays for Olive Branch, and a big playoff win over Warren Central.

The Conquistadors had scoring plays of 61, 80 and 53 yards to smash the Vikings 38-6 Friday night in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs. The loss ends Warren Central’s season at 6-6. Olive Branch (10-2) advanced to play Madison Central.

Despite the loss, WC coach Curtis Brewer was upbeat about his team and the fact that this group of seniors led the Vikings back to the playoffs for the first time since 2005.

“Nobody likes to lose, but for our kids, this was a good trip. I want to thank our adiministration, and our AD for help making this a good experience for these kids. We ran into a team tonight that has a lot of speed and we didn’t get much out of our offense,” Brewer said.

Olive Branch had a huge edge in total yardage, piling up 444 yards — 297 of that came on the ground behind an offensive line that features three potential Division I signees, including the state’s No. 1 rated player in offensive tackle Damien Robinson.

The Vikings, on the other hand, had just 40 yards net rushing. Tim Jones, the Vicksburg Post area’s top rusher with over 1,400 yards coming in, was held to just 20 yards on 13 carries.

“Our plan was to control No. 20 (Jones) and also limit the big guy (John Gustavis). I thought we did a good job there on defense,” Olive Branch coach Scott Samsel said.

The Vikings’ highlight on offense came from junior quarterback Beau Wallace. Down 24-0 early in the fourth quarter, he gave WC some hope when he hit Jones on a middle screen and saw it break open for a 62-yard touchdown with 9:12 to play. The Vikings went for a two-point conversion, trying to make it a two-possession game, but the pass failed, leaving the score at 24-6.

Olive Branch needed just 11 seconds to answer. Brad Rankin romped 53 yards for a game-clinching touchdown. BJ Shipp had a 3-yard TD run with 4:59 left to cap the scoring.

It was Keshun Shipp who did most of the early damage for the Quistors. He opened the scoring with a 17-yard TD run four minutes into the game, then came back with an 80-yard TD run late in the second quarter and finished with 161 yards on 13 carries.

WC had a golden chance to get back in the game when Jones recovered the first of three Quistor fumbles at the Olive Branch 25. The Vikings, however, gained just two yards and Devon Bell’s 41-yard field goal attempt missed wide right.

The Vikings appeared set to get the ball back after putting the Quistors in a third-and-23 from the 39. But quarterback Todd Mays avoided two defenders and launched a deep pass to Randy House, who had slipped behind the safeties. The 61-yard TD pass on the first play of the second quarter made it 17-0.

Wallace led the Viking offense by hitting on 8 of 18 passes for 137 yards. Jones caught three for 86 yards.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com