Joe Shorter took a handoff at the 3-yard line, closely followed his blockers into the end zone, and handed the ball to the official. His next move was to sprint toward the sideline and 50 yards up the track at Viking Stadium, behind his team’s bench while waving his arms to fire up the crowd.

It was the first time the Vikings had gotten any distance away from Northwest Rankin all night, so it seemed fitting that a bit of emotional release was in order.

Shorter’s touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter gave Warren Central a two-touchdown lead — its largest of the night — and the Vikings held on to beat Northwest Rankin 28-21 in a slugfest between Region 2-6A contenders.

“It’s not always going to be picture perfect and rosy. Some stuff wasn’t working for us, and they’re a very good football team, so we had to lean on other things,” Warren Central head coach Josh Morgan said. “I thought our special teams covered better and field position was important. I thought our defense played their best game of the year. What we had to do tonight was very challenging, and three turnovers, and standing up and stopping them in red zones … man, did they play good football.”

Warren Central (5-0, 1-0 Region 2-6A) had 329 rushing yards as it beat the Cougars (4-2, 0-1) in an early but pivotal game in Region 2-6A. The teams are among a half-dozen expected to contend for the region title, and getting a head-to-head victory pushed the Vikings one notch up in the pecking order.

“You’ve been around long enough to know how important this game is, and we didn’t shy away from that the whole week and last week. This is a big thing for us, because they’re going to be a playoff team in my opinion, and it was very important that we start it off ahead of the game,” Morgan said. “This was a big one for us. Maybe the biggest district game we’ll play is this one.”

Demarcus Jones ran for 137 yards and two touchdowns for the Vikings, and Shorter had 116 yards and a touchdown. It’s the third time this season that WC has had two runners go over the 100-yard mark in the same game.

Half of Jones’ yards came on the second play of the game, when he came in motion, took a handoff and went off the right side for a 69-yard touchdown. He added a 15-yarder late in the second quarter, but both times Northwest Rankin answered.

Quarterback Braden Smith ran for a 48-yard score on the Cougars’ first series, and then led a scoring drive in the final minute of the half to tie the game at 14. Smith scored on a 1-yard sneak as time expired.
Smith finished the game 18-of-28 passing for 187 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, and ran for 90 yards and two TDs.

While Northwest showed a lot of tenacity, Warren Central’s defense had just a bit more of it.

The Vikings held firm on five separate occasions when Northwest drove into their territory. WC forced three turnovers and sacked Smith four times. Northwest also hurt itself by having a touchdown called back on the opening play of the fourth quarter and then missing a 37-yard field goal later in the drive.

“We bowed up. Coach told us to keep them out of the end zone and don’t give up one yard. Don’t stop,” said WC defensive lineman Jeremy Miller, who had two sacks. “It was good. We had good defensive schemes to get in the backfield and make plays. We had to bow up and don’t let them get energy. We set the tone.”

WC quarterback Jesse Wilson put his team ahead for good with a 15-yard touchdown run with 3:47 left in the third quarter. Then, after the Northwest drive that ended with the missed field goal, the Vikings zigged when they normally would have zagged.

With a one-score lead and the ball, and about 10 minutes to go, the Vikings went to a hurry-up offense instead of trying to grind down the clock. Wilson hit three quick passes to Jones, who was lined up at receiver, that gained a total of 28 yards. Continuing the fast pace, Jones had runs of 19 and 18 yards later in the drive, and Shorter finished it off with his 3-yard run and sideline sprint with 7:09 left to make it 28-14.

Northwest answered one more time, as Smith led a 10-play scoring drive in less than two minutes. His 4-yard TD pass to Carson Banks cut the deficit to 28-21, but WC’s Walt Hopson recovered an onsides kick and the Vikings were able to run out the clock.