When this year’s senior class played its first varsity football game for Warren Central, the once-mighty program had become a shell of its former self.

The team that dominated the Little Dixie Conference in the 1970s, then won and regularly competed for state championships in the 1980s and 90s, was long gone. In its place was one coming off a 3-19 run over two seasons that put the program at its lowest point in 40 years.

A talented sophomore class in 2012 eventually blossomed into a tremendous senior group, however. By the time they walked off the field for the final time last Friday, after a 17-7 playoff loss to Southaven, they’d put Warren Central back on the map as a Mississippi football power.

WC has gone 23-13 in the past three seasons and spent most of this one ranked in the Associated Press Class 6A and overall polls. It finished 9-3 this season, the first time it won that many games since 2004.

“It was a special group. They’ve done so much for our school and our football program. They’ve been a joy to coach and definitely left their mark on the program,” WC coach Josh Morgan said. “They came into a struggling program at a tough time, and it was together that they turned it around. They were high character guys with a good work ethic and football capability.”

Warren Central will lose 24 seniors off of this year’s team, including eight who started for at least two seasons. Among the departing are Mississippi State-bound cornerback Chris Stamps; Marcus Ragan, the school’s career leader in receptions; and defensive stalwarts Michael Ware, Derrick Thomas, Malik Steele and DeArius Christmas.

It’ll be the loss of Christmas that effects the team the most, Morgan said. The linebacker is a two-time Vicksburg Post Defensive Player of the Year who turned in another outstanding season in 2014. He had nearly 120 tackles, a team-high five interceptions and three fumble recoveries.

With Christmas anchoring the defense, Warren Central allowed the fewest points in Class 6A in 2013 and 2014.

“There’s a reason we were the No. 1 defense in the state, and that’s DeArius Christmas,” Morgan said. “Right now, nobody else is close. That’s just realistic. He’s a once in a lifetime player. We’ll no doubt regroup, but there’s no one that can replace that young man.”

The Vikings will have to try, though, and there appears to be plenty of candidates to keep things rolling. Juniors Byron Galvin and Jeremy Judge both played key roles on the defense this season — Judge, a defensive back, had five takeaways and 59 tackles — and the team’s top rusher, D.J. Knight, is also a junior.

The heir apparent at quarterback is sophomore Jesse Wilson, who saw significant time in mop-up duty. Beyond that, a talented new generation is on the horizon. The eighth-grade team won the Little Six Conference championship this season.

Morgan said community support of the program has picked up with the recent success and that the future looks bright. Saying goodbye to the crew that helped make it that way, however, won’t be easy.

“I feel like we’ve got a good group coming back. I’m kind of in denial about losing these (seniors), but the groundwork has been laid,” Morgan said. “They built us back up. Now it’s time for these other guys to pick it up and carry on.”