SOUTHAVEN — A gutsy game from Warren Central keeper Baxter Richardson and a late goal by Gray Cordes wasn’t enough to pull the Vikings into the second round of the Class 6A playoffs.

DeSoto Central’s Cody Moore scored a goal in each half and that was enough for the Jaguars to slip past Warren Central 2-1 in a first-round game.

The loss ends Warren Central’s season at 14-6-3. DeSoto Central (15-4) advanced to play Madison Central on Saturday.

Warren Central coach Greg Head said his team gave a great effort.

“We played a tough team, but we knew they were tough after we played them to start the season,” Head said. “We got outshot. Both of the goals we gave up came on bad breaks. But we also showed our inexperience.”

DeSoto Central got 24 shots on goal to Warren Central’s 11. Sixteen came in the first half, but Richardson turned back eight of the attempts and the rest went either high or wide. He finished with 13 saves.

Warren Central senior Chandler Bounds credited his keeper.

“Baxter saved us plenty of times there in the first half,” Bounds said. “They had a pretty quick team and we didn’t get that many chances.”

DeSoto Central coach Jeremy Greenshade said his team applied steady pressure.

“We possessed the ball well,” Greenshade said. “We got a lot of shots, but when we had a chance to finish, we did.”

WC’s first-half chances were limited to a free kick that went wide by Oscar Kjellberg at the 22nd minute and Ahstin Greer missed on one of the few open shots he had a minute later. Richardson made three diving saves in a four-minute span late in the first half. He turned away a top of the box free kick by Christian Clements, a header by Zach Farmer and another free kick by Peter Geraci.

In stoppage time, the Jaguars finally found the net. Moore was able to dribble a goal home after Richardson had come out and got caught up in traffic.

Moore’s second goal, which came with 23:13 left, was a solid play. Farmer popped a kick up and Moore headed it in for the score for a 2-0 lead.

Warren Central got on the board with 2:47 left when Cordes scored on a 15-yard rebound shot following a free kick, The Vikings had two late chances to get a tying goal, but Greer was wide on his left-to-right shot and Bounds’ 30-yard kick was caught by DeSoto keeper Taylor Thevenot.