Despite wasting a 10-point lead in the second half, it was hard to say Warren Central let a win slip away Friday night. Northwest Rankin simply pounded the Vikings until they took it.

Northwest Rankin put together two long scoring drives and returned an interception for a touchdown to account for 21 unanswered points, and beat Warren Central 24-13 at Viking Stadium.

Northwest (5-0, 1-0 Region 2-6A) won despite turning the ball over five times and coughing up two other fumbles that it recovered. One of the turnovers was a fumble that Louis Carson returned 85 yards for a touchdown.

The Cougars outgained Warren Central (1-4, 0-1) by more than 200 yards, 356-154, but the turnovers and mistakes kept the game close until the final minutes.

“We’ve had problems since the first week of practice completing our bread-and-butter passes. Once we got settled down, we did well,” said Northwest running back James Johnson, who rushed for 71 yards and a touchdown. “Coaches preached to us at halftime that all we had to do was execute. Once we got that down, it was fine.”

Warren Central’s ball-hawking defense kept it in the game despite the offense’s struggles. Midway through the third quarter, Carson stripped Northwest’s Kurterrius Taylor at the WC 15-yard line and took it the distance to put the Vikings ahead 13-3.

Earlier in the game, Carson was on the other side of a fumble that turned out well for the Vikings. He caught a pass to the Northwest 10 and fumbled, only to have teammate Malcolm Grant scoop it up and carry it the rest of the way for WC’s first score.

After Carson’s strip and score, Northwest Rankin took control. Johnson’s 7-yard TD run capped a 12-play drive, and Ramone Nash scored on a 17-yard run on Northwest’s next possession to finish a nine-play march.

The second touchdown drive was aided by a 34-yard run on a reverse by Jonathan Haley, which bailed the Cougars out of a second-and-17 situation.