Warren Central got out of the gate strong Friday night, but couldn’t keep it going and lost 42-28 to Wayne County in the Red Carpet Bowl.

Wayne County scored 21 straight points in the second quarter after the Vikings took an early lead, and never trailed again.

“A lot of credit goes to Wayne County. We knew they were good and as good as advertised,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said. “We did some good things, we did some bad things. That’s going to be our challenge moving forward, making sure we learn from these mistakes and making sure we get better.”

The Vikings scored first, on a 6-yard pass from Jesse Wilson to Larry Ferguson late in the first quarter. The score was set up by a 39-yard pass from Wilson to Shonterrence Walton that moved the ball inside the 10-yard line.

After that, Wayne County took over. It scored on a 53-yard pass and twice on the ground to take a 21-7 lead. Warren Central’s Joe Shorter took the second half kickoff back for a touchdown, but the Vikings never regained the lead against last year’s Class 5A semifinalist.

Ferguson and Shorter scored two touchdowns apiece for the Vikings.

“On defense we gave up big plays for touchdowns, which you cannot do. We missed a lot of tackles, gave up some big plays in the second half in general. We’ve got to wrap that up and secure that. We’ve got to do better a job as coaches of getting the ball into our skill players’ hands,” Morgan said.

The Vikings defense started strong, but it was also their Achilles’ heel. Kamren Ellis wrapped up backs early to help stop the run and Wilson almost came up with a pick. After the great early effort, however, the Vikings went into a slump.

“Make sure you understand this is a long progress and a long season. We will get better,” Morgan said to his team after the loss. “What we’ve got to work on is sustaining that engine for four quarters.”

Warren Central will host Pearl next Friday at 7 p.m.