Two signs on the front door of Warren Central’s fieldhouse told visitors everything they needed to know about what the players inside were thinking about.

The first, a bumper sticker, celebrated South Panola’s four straight state championships. The second, a hand-written note, read &#822060-0. Will you be #61?”

On Monday, Warren Central went to work in an effort to avoid becoming the 61st straight victim of South Panola’s dynasty.

&#8220I don’t know who put it up there,” WC coach Curtis Brewer said. &#8220It is a challenge. It’s something to remind us that this is going to be a challenge and we’re going to have to be as good as we can be.”

Three weeks from Thursday, the curtain will go up on WC’s season when it welcomes South Panola and its 60-game winning streak to Viking Stadium for the Red Carpet Bowl.

On Monday, the Vikings – along with Vicksburg High and St. Aloysius across town – held their first official practices of the season. Since teams must have four practices before they can put on shoulder pads, and two more before they can put on full pads, offense was the focus of all three teams this week.

&#8220Thursday and Friday, once we can put the pads on, we’ll focus on some defense,” St. Al coach Jim Taylor said. &#8220It’s a week you’re trying to make sure your kids are in shape and nobody gets too hot. No matter how much work you do in the summer, it’s not enough.”

There’s plenty of work ahead for all three teams, but Warren Central may have the biggest challenge ahead of it.

Besides playing South Panola in the opener, WC must replace most of a solid defense that compensated for a poor offense and kept it in every game last season. Kicker and punter Eric Richards, now at Mississippi State, was the team’s biggest weapon in 2006 and must also be replaced.

Focusing on that, and not the looming showdown with South Panola, may be the Vikings’ toughest task, Brewer said.

&#8220We’ve got to worry about what we do good and what we can’t do good. We’ve got to worry about Warren Central. The kids and the community are enjoying the challenge with the schedule,” Brewer said.

WC started practice with a flourish on Monday, with a pair of 90-minute workouts in the morning and evening. It will follow the same routine today, hitting the practice field at 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. with an hour of weightlifting before the evening practice. Starting with the first day of school on Wednesday, the Vikings will practice at 3 p.m.

St. Al, meanwhile, is skipping two-a-days in favor of a lighter schedule. The team lifted weights for an hour and then practiced for two more on Monday. Taylor said the focus this week is on getting the team in shape and its timing back.

Beginning next week, the real fun begins. St. Al lost more than a half-dozen senior starters and has to fill a number of holes with young players. Figuring out who to put in where, and preparing for the season opener at Bogue Chitto on Aug. 31, will be the focus of the last two weeks of camp.

&#8220We lost seven or eight seniors that are very, very important in what we did, and we have to replace all of them. A lot of them played two ways,” Taylor said. &#8220We’re definitely going to be a young team.”