The second all-Warren Central showdown in the Gators Region pits one state champion against a state runner-up.

Warren Central was among the dominant programs in Mississippi in the 1970s and early 80s, but it was an unlikely group that finally brought the school its first state championship in 1988.

The 1988 Vikings started 2-2 and only scored 20 points in their first four games. Then they flipped a switch and won nine of the next 10, a hot streak that ended with a 23-19 victory over Greenwood in the state championship game.

Five years later, the Vikings had reloaded and were anything but a scrappy underdog.

After winning 10 games in 1992, the 1993 Vikings won their first 14 games to reach the MHSAA Class 5A championship game. They lost that one, 42-28 to a South Panola team that featured several future NFL players, in what many consider one of the best state championship games ever played.

The ’93 Vikings only won two games be less than 10 points, and set a single-season school record by scoring 492 points.