The Warren Central girls were giddy and high-fives were as plentiful as gloves and foul-weather caps in the stands.

The atmosphere was jubilant. The Lady Vikes lost 1-0, but outshot the Lady Arrows 10-7, and put themselves in prime position for a playoff berth despite missing leading scorer Lindsey Barfield. Warren Central (10-7-2, 2-2 Division 3-6A) is assured of its first winning record since 2006 and can lock up a playoff berth with a win over Vicksburg on Tuesday and loss of two goals or less in the rematch at Clinton on Friday.

Considering that Lindsey Burris missed a 20-footer that brushed past the left post in the second half, the mood could’ve been even more upbeat.

WC coach Trey Banks made a few adjustments defensively that kept Clinton’s good looks to a minimum and the defense — with goalkeeper Katie Humphries playing a nearly perfect game with 10 saves — executed the plan to near-perfection.

“They just believed,” Banks said. “We tried to cram the middle up for Clinton and push them outside. I tried to make them take some outside shots, we don’t want them shooting inside the 18. The objective was play back as far as we could and always step to the ball. We were always right there, toe-to-toe, and they were rarely first to the ball.”

With a shade over five minutes left in the first half, Taylor Maddox broke the scoreless tie as Kyra Montes found her front of the goalbox with a perfectly-timed pass.

“When we’re playing a team like Warren Central that bunkered down,” Clinton coach Thomas Bobo said. “It’s very important that we kept the ball moving and kept switching the point of attack quicker. We did a good job of that early, but as the game went further on, we didn’t do as good job of that. Warren Central did a great job of staying cohesive and on the same sheet.”