Warren Central’s Larry Warner, from left, longtime Warren Central coach Robert Morgan and Porters Chapel linebacker Humphrey Barlow captured the top awards for The Vicksburg Post’s 2003 All-County football team. (Jon GiffinThe Vicksburg Post)

[12/14/03]Larry Warner’s first start in a Warren Central uniform was one he would like to forget.

That morning, he learned that his grandmother, his best friend, died in a Vicksburg hospital. The team was preparing to play against Forest Hill and Warner was set for his first start.

WC’s other starting running back, Fred Payne, had been nursing an injured leg and was too gimpy to play.

Warner thought about not playing, but his grandmother would not have wanted that. Lucille attended every game and pushed him to excel.

“She would be with me,” he thought.

So he played.

The first time he touched the ball he fumbled. The second time, same result.

“My head wasn’t in the game,” he said after the Vikings’ impressive 8-4 Region 2-5A championship winning season.

WC coach Robert Morgan never wavered, however. Warner was the man.

By the time the game ended, Warner was on his way to gaining 43 yards on 13 carries, and opening the floodgates for one of the most impressive stretches by a running back in a long, long time.

Despite not starting at the beginning of the year, the 5-foot, 5-inch, 140-pounder earned The Vicksburg Post Offensive Player of the Year Award. He ran for 1,062 yards on 149 carries and scored nine touchdowns in his junior season.

“You coach players all the time to be prepared so when your opportunity comes around, you’ll be ready,” Warren Central coach Robert Morgan said. “We knew he was a good player.”

Following the Forest Hill game, Warner ran for 64 yards against Greenville, then went wild. He torched Madison Central for 204 yards, Murrah for 263 and Grenada for 216. The team’s playoff loss to Horn Lake was the lone time he was held under 100 yards since the Greenville game.

All the while, Warner took on tacklers that dwarfed him, leaving everything on the field and even having trouble talking after games.

In his mind, and with his size, Warner knew that he could never take a play off.

“With my size, I have to fight hard every play,” Warner said. “If I took a play off, who knows what would happen. All my life people I play against have been bigger than me, so I just have to work harder than they do.”

Warner would sneak behind his blockers, looking for a slim crack to exploit.

He said he never took a really hard hit because, “when they’d come to hit me, I would just turn sideways and they’d miss.”

Warner’s best game came against Murrah. At halftime, he had more than 180 yards and as he closed in on 300, he wanted desperately to get more carries.

The Vikings, though, were so far ahead that the reserves were getting the bulk of the playing time. Several times Warner snuck into the backfield only to be told to go back to the bench.

His running led Warren Central to the Region 2-5A title and a win over Vicksburg with the region title on the line.

“He’s the epitome of a Viking,” Morgan said of Warner. “His teammates will say the same thing. He’s a great player.”

2003 All-County Offensive Team

James Jackson, QB, Sr. Vicksburg

Rob Jones, RB, Sr., St. Aloysius

Maurice Taylor, RB, Sr., Vicksburg

Ben Shelton, WR, Sr., Vicksburg

Amos Chase, WR, Sr., Warren Central

David Weiland, TE, Sr., St. Aloysius

Michael Smith, OL, Sr., Vicksburg

Russell Cook, OL, Sr., Warren Central

Chris Noye, OL, Sr., Vicksburg

Scott McKinnie, OL, Sr., Warren Central

Lance Gullett, OL, Sr., Porters Chapel

Will Clark, K, Sr., Warren Central