Warren Central needed a win Friday night, not just to shake off a tough loss earlier in the week to division rival Clinton but to also lock down a berth in the Class 6A playoffs.

Check, check and check.

Laney Smith and Hailey Garner scored two goals apiece, and four other players netted one each as the Lady Vikes routed Murrah 8-0 to accomplish all of their goals.

“It was good for the team to go from a hard loss to a win, and to have fun tonight,” said Warren Central goal keeper Layken Stockstill. She shut out the Mustangs while playing goal in the first half, and then moved into the field in the second half and had a goal and an assist.

Warren Central (6-7-1, 2-1 Division 4-6A) finished second in the division and will have to go on the road to face nationally-ranked Northwest Rankin in the first round when the playoffs begin in two weeks. Despite that daunting challenge ahead, coach Jay Madison was proud of the way his players set it up.

“I just told the girls that what we’ve got to do is take care of business, and let’s win this and play in the first round,” Madison said. “The way I look at it is, you play your state championship game in that first game. You would meet them anyway.”

Murrah, a perennial cellar dweller in Division 4-6A, posed far less of a challenge than the one Warren Central will see when it takes on Northwest Rankin (16-1). Even so, the Lady Vikes didn’t mess around and put the game away fairly early.

Garner scored the game’s first goal just four minutes in, and Smith found the net in the 11th minute to give WC a quick 2-0 lead. The Lady Vikes scored twice more in the last three minutes of the first half, and poured it on in the second as substitutes and younger players flooded the field.

“Sometimes you get where you miss easy goals in front of the goal and think, ‘Oh it’s just Murrah, or it’s just Greenville,’” Madison said. “That’s what’s been missing. That’s what I’m seeing them learn is there’s a way to take care of business, and that’s how I want us to be.”

While taking a businesslike approach, there was also some room for fun on Friday. Stockstill, the team’s starting goal keeper, scored the first goal of her high school career midway through the second half.
She played the field while Anna Hoben and Megan Garner split time in goal in the second half. Hoben and Garner combined to make five saves.

Stockstill, a sophomore, said getting to score a goal was a highlight.

“It was really awesome,” she said.

(B) Warren Central 7, Murrah 1

Warren Central took 20 shots in the first half of Friday’s game against Murrah. It hit the post three times, sent one wide on a breakaway, and only scored one goal.

Its aim was a lot better in the second half.

The Vikings (11-3, 1-1 Division 4-6A) scored six times in the last 40 minutes to break open a close game, rout the Mustangs and all but clinch a playoff berth.

Braylen Greer scored a minute into the second half to start the avalanche, and then again in the 57th minute to make it 3-0. Five minutes after his second goal he took a corner kick that was headed in by Graham Tweedle.

Hunt Holdiness, Dillon Green and Hank Holdiness all scored down the stretch.

Hank Holdiness and Green each finished with a goal and an assist. Hunt Holdiness had a goal and two assists, while Greer scored two goals and assisted on two. Sean Dixon had the Vikings’ first goal, in the 28th minute.

Warren Central outshot Murrah 42-7 in the game and took 10 corner kicks. Three of the corners led to goals.

August Harp scored the only goal for Murrah (7-4, 0-1 Division 4-6A).

Warren Central (11-3, 1-1) will host Greenville (0-9, 0-1) on Saturday, and needs only to beat the hapless Hornets to secure a playoff berth.

Warren Central’s girls’ team will kick off the doubleheader with Greenville at 10 a.m. The Lady Vikes will also play Pearl at 1:45 p.m.