CLINTON — This was supposed to be the year when, if it didn’t turn the tide in its long-running rivalry with Clinton, Warren Central would at least be able to walk away with its head held high.

Nope. It was the same as every other year.

Eighth-grader Luke Bryant scored two goals, Orion Anderson scored one and assisted on another, and Clinton beat Warren Central 3-1 Tuesday night.

It’s Clinton’s seventh consecutive victory in the rivalry. Warren Central has only beaten the Arrows once in the last 12 years, and not since 2010.

“It just sucks. If you win this game it makes a big deal going into the playoffs, you get home field advantage and everything. It just sucks that you can’t come through with it,” Warren Central defender John Austin Burris said.

With the win, Clinton (6-10-2, 1-0 Division 4-6A) moved into the driver’s seat for the Division 4-6A championship. It can win the division title by beating hapless Greenville and Murrah in its remaining division games.

Warren Central (12-3-2, 1-1) can clinch a playoff berth by winning at Murrah on Friday night.

“You’ve just got to get back at it,” Burris said.

Clinton’s sub-.500 record has come largely at the hands of some of the state’s best teams, and did not seem indicative of its skill level — a fact the Vikings learned first-hand Tuesday.

Anderson scored off an assist from Caleb Carpenter just nine minutes in, and then he set up Bryant 11 minutes later for a goal that made it 2-0.

“That was a boost to our mentality,” Anderson said. “Most games we can come up in the first half, but we just can’t score another goal and a good team always ends up coming back up. For us to get that second goal, that really boosted our heads up and we were just all in on positivity.”

Bryant scored again in the 56th minute to put the Arrows ahead 3-0. Warren Central pushed its offense forward and generated more pressure, but no goals until Braylen Greer knocked one home in the 78th minute.

That was way too late for the Vikings to mount a miraculous comeback. The final whistle blew a couple of minutes later and they were left to stew on both a lost opportunity and another year of frustration at the hands of their biggest nemesis.

“We just haven’t played on a turf field,” Warren Central coach Greg Head said. “We haven’t played a team this quick since before Christmas, and I think it was just too fast, too quick for us. Once we settled in we started playing better. But they scored those two goals so quick, and we weren’t used to the speed. I take some fault in that, not playing a little bit better team before this, but sometimes it falls in like that.”

(G) Clinton 3, Warren Central 0

Eighth-grader Acacia Rodriguez and senior Madera Turner each scored a goal in the second half as Clinton (4-8-3, 1-0 Division 4-6A) pulled away from Warren Central (7-6-2, 1-1) for a key division win.

Clinton can win the division title by beating Greenville and Murrah in its remaining division games. Warren Central needs to beat Murrah on Friday to clinch a playoff berth.

Another eighth-grader, Kaci Craft, scored in the first half for Clinton and Hayden Oswalt had two assists.

Clinton led 1-0 at halftime, then got Rodriguez’s goal in the 49th minute and Madera’s in the 66th to put it away.