[11/10/05]

Before becoming head football coach at Warren Central two years ago, longtime assistant coach Curtis Brewer could be spotted on a tractor mowing the pristine field at Warren Central’s Viking Stadium.

Now, as the head coach, Brewer usually is occupied with interviews, parent meetings, progress reports and players’ grades, not to mention preparing the Vikings for an upcoming game.

On Wednesday afternoon, as the rainless streak in this area creeped toward six weeks, Brewer was again on the tractor. The field appeared to be in fine shape, but Brewer was giving the turf a good one-time over.

It appeared as though that short time on the tractor was a bit of therapy.

In this town, in this rivalry, this game is played as if there is no yesterday nor tomorrow and small batches of therapeutic rest are welcome. Coaches at both Vicksburg and Warren Central have more stress this week than any other during the season. They watch more film, study more diagrammed plays, try harder than any other time during the season for a win.

Everything about this game is geared to making it the biggest thing around. It is played on the last week of the regular season, creating a local Super Bowl-like atmosphere. On the field, it’s cousins against cousins, brothers against brothers. It’s a special night in this community.

Later Wednesday afternoon, a school district truck and trailer pulled into Viking Stadium carrying with it extra bleachers for an expected overflow crowd. &#8220They bringin’ in the bleachers, must mean the Gators’ are comin’,” one Viking assistant coach said with a wide smile.

Since the early days of August, through sweaty workouts, two-a-days, a grueling regular season, and playoff possibilities, this game stands out on the schedule. Thinking about it gets this newspaperman’s blood flowing, and it should get every football fan in this community fired up.

Listen carefully Friday night, the hits will be harder and louder than any other game. The yards will be harder to come by and points harder to score. Everyone will be a ball of nervous emotion.

And when it is all over, nearly 200 players and coaches will breathe a sigh of relief that this one is finally done. One side’s stands will leave in ecstacy, while the other’s must wait 365 days to try again.

If you’ve never been to a Vicksburg-Warren Central football game, go. If you go every year, see you Friday. It will be money well spent.

Just arrive early. They bring in those extra bleachers for a reason.