Warren Central’s depth in kickers paid off to give coach Josh Morgan his first career win Friday night at Viking Stadium.

First-time kicker Will Stegall booted a 39-yard field goal with 3:55 left in the game to give the Vikings a 20-11 cushion. Hattiesburg (1-2) scored with 1:45 left, but could not get the onsides kick and WC escaped with a 20-18 victory.

Morgan said he had no qualms in putting Stegall in to kick in a spot usually reserved for Devon Bell. Bell made a field goal from 29 yards earlier and missed one from 50.

“He (Stegall) has been accurate in practice and it was something we wanted to try in this game,” Morgan said. “He’s very accurate and efficient and he came through in a big spot.”

Stegall said he was feeling the nerves, but his leg didn’t let him down on both tries. The first one came from 34 yards and was good, but Morgan called timeout.

“It was tough,” Stegall said of the situation, which included getting iced by his own coach. “We had just 10 men on the field. I thought ‘what’s going on — the kick was good?’ Then we jumped on the next one and get five yards. I just had to put more leg on it. I had a good snap and hold. I guess it was just my time to be in there and do something. I’ve worked a lot on my kicking.”

The field goal capped a drive for the Vikings that started on their own 7. A 31-yard option keeper by Beau Wallace, followed by a 30-yard reverse-field run by Shon Jackson, put the Vikings in Bell’s range at the Hattiesburg 30. A 12-yard power run by Austin Roberts got the ball to the Hattiesburg 20 and now Morgan had his kicking options.

Morgan said the 74-yard drive was critical because Hattiesburg had dominated play in the second half until that point.

“They changed some things defensively and we had some three-and-outs,” Morgan said.

Wallace said Morgan got the right call to get the Vikings out of a big hole with eight minutes left in the game.

“We ran an option and it worked out. The line did their part,” Wallace said.

Then Stegall did his.

“That kick was Will Stegall. He deserves it,” Wallace said.

Warren Central took advantage of Hattiesburg’s fumble problems. The Tigers lost four fumbles. Three killed potential scoring drives and another set up a Viking score right before halftime.

“This is the second game in a row that our defense has caused four turnovers. That’s something we need to have,” Morgan said.

WC’s first sustained drive of the game late in the first quarter and into the second led to Bell’s 29-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.

It went to 10-0 as the Vikings put together a six-play, 62-yard drive capped by Roberts’ four-yard TD run with 1:35 left in the half. Bell added the kick.

The Tigers then lost their third fumble of the half as Tyler Comans recovered and returned it 27 yards to the Tiger 17. Jackson needed one play to score on a toss sweep. Bell’s kick made it 17-0 with 59.8 seconds left in the half.

Hattiesburg did get a late drive and Mark Moore made a 42-yard field as time expired to make it 17-3 at the half.

The Tigers’ fourth fumble stopped their initial third quarter drive as Given Breckenridge came up with the recovery.

Hattiesburg bounced back later in the quarter with a 75-yard march capped by Terrance Flowers’ four-yard run. The PAT kick had a bad snap but holder Karanja Carter threw a desperation pass that found Matthew McKeller for the two-point conversion to trim WC’s lead to 17-11 with 3:29 left in the third quarter.

Hattiesburg still needed two scores after Stegall’s kick. They got one when Sanchez Johnson scored on a 1-yard run after completing six passes in a 90 second span. Moore’s kick made it 20-18 with 1:45 left.

The Tigers tried an onside kick put the Vikings came up with the ball and ran out the remaining time.

WC had its best rushing night of the season with an even 200 yards on the ground. Jackson had 91 yards on 15 carries while Roberts added 83 on 14 carries.

Johnson finished 18-of-25 for 210 yards to lead Hattiesburg.