Warren Central needed a half to shake off a near three-week layoff from their last game. Oscar Kjellberg’s goal with 8:09 left in the match finally put away the Gators in the Division 3-6A contest at Memorial Stadium.

Warren Central (11-3-2, 2-0) moves into a tie for first place in the division with Clinton. Vicksburg remained winless in the division at 0-3 and is now 2-8-3 overall.

WC coach Greg Head said his team had a struggle with the Gators.

“It was our first game back since the break and we’re still not 100 percent healthy,” Head said. “That said, I’m wasn’t happy with our first half. We were much better in the second half.”

The Vikings had just seven shots in the first half, but still managed an unassisted goal by Chandler Bounds. They stepped up the pressure in the second half with 12 shots. Four came from Ahstin Greer, but each of those were turned away by Vicksburg’s keeper Marc Grace.

Kjellberg, a foreign exchange student from Sweden, finally broke away from his defender and sliced in a goal for a 2-0 cushion. Vicksburg’s best chance to score came off a free kick by Kyle Davidson, but it was caught by WC keeper Baxter Richardson.

Grace had nine saves to pace the Gators, while Richardson had three in the shutout for the Vikings.