After back-to-back losses, Warren Central started to show some improvement last week against Meridian.

Then they failed to cash in a turnover deep in enemy territory. And lost a fumble. And another. Before long, the Vikings were on the wrong end of lopsided score and in the midst of a bonafide losing streak.

The good thing about football, though, is that there’s always next week. And for the Vikings, that means tonight’s Region 2-5A opener at home against No. 7 Northwest Rankin (3-1). It’s a chance for WC (1-3) to get off on the right foot in its hunt for a 22nd consecutive playoff berth, as well as snap out of its recent funk.

&#8220Ninety-five percent of football is spirit and desire, and we have to get that spirit and that swagger back,” WC coach Curtis Brewer said. &#8220You win one, and then build on your successes.”

The Vikings have had precious few successes so far.

Since routing Memphis Kirby 37-0 in the Red Carpet Bowl, WC has scored just 31 points total. The offensive ineptitude has come from a variety of sources – everything from ill-timed penalties, to turnovers, to blown assignments.

Correcting the mistakes is a tricky business, Brewer said, of balancing awareness of the problem without making players so self-conscious of it that it causes more trouble.

&#8220You work on fumble drills, recovering fumbles. You just work and emphasize it without beating them over the head about it,” Brewer said. &#8220The things we’re working on, the problems we’re dealing with, running and screaming and gorillas are not going to correct.”

If drills and pep talks aren’t enough to whip the Vikings into shape, perhaps a change of scenery is.

The last three teams WC has faced – Grenada, South Pike and Meridian – utilized spread offenses. That created several mismatches, Brewer said, and contributed to some of WC’s mistakes on defense.

Northwest Rankin uses a more straight-forward, pound-it-out, run-oriented offensive style that might be more suited to WC’s strengths. Brewer was quick to caution, however, that it still won’t be easy to stop.

Northwest’s Josh Brumfield has rushed nearly 500 yards – 201 of them in a 36-29 win over Kosciusko. Brumfield’s eight touchdowns on the ground are three more than WC has as a team.

&#8220They’ve got an extremely good offensive football team,” Brewer said. &#8220Any time a running back can have over 200 yards in a game, I don’t care who they’re playing, it puts them in pretty good company.”