Following an overtime loss to Callaway on Aug. 26, it seemed like Warren Central’s offense was ready to shift into high gear.

The Vikings scored 35 points that night, their highest output in two seasons. They were making big plays and finding some rhythm in the passing game.

Since then, WC hasn’t just sputtered. It has blown up, trailing smoke and broken engine parts behind it as it goes.

The Vikings have only scored 24 points in their last three games, and haven’t had more than one touchdown in any of them. The latest nightmare came Friday in a 35-7 loss to Northwest Rankin. WC only gained 56 yards of offense in the second half, had two interceptions returned for touchdowns and moved the ball into Northwest territory twice in 13 possessions.

A lot of WC’s offensive woes stem from its troubles in the running game. Most of its linemen weigh just a little over 200 pounds and the unit as a whole has struggled to get a surge off the snap. Leading rusher Greg King has less than 200 yards for the season. Against Northwest Rankin, the Vikings only had two runs longer than six yards.

“When I talked about being physically outmatched, that goes on both sides of the ball. The offensive and defensive line. We just could not establish a running game, and you’re not going to be very successful if you cannot run the football and stop the run. We couldn’t do that tonight on any kind of consistent basis,” WC coach Josh Morgan said.

WC has found something with the Chase Ladd-to-Kourey Davis connection. They hooked up five times on Friday night for 113 yards and a touchdown. For the season, Davis has caught 14 passes. He has accounted for 340 of Ladd’s 529 passing yards and four of his six touchdowns.

The Vikings have been too inconsistent in the passing game to rely on it entirely, though. Ladd has had four interceptions returned for scores this season. On Friday night, he threw incomplete on nine of his next 10 attempts after the long touchdown pass.

Morgan was optimistic that the passing game can get the Vikings moving again, but said without a running game to keep defenses honest, it wouldn’t be a magic cure.

“Kourey is doing an unbelievable job. He’s turning into one of the premier receivers,“ Morgan said. “We’ve got to find some help. We’ve got to cut down on our interceptions. You can’t do that. We can’t do that. We can’t throw interceptions for touchdowns. “But, again, it’s not going to be successful if you’re one-dimensional. You’ve got to establish the run, and that’s more of a concern to me than anything.”