For a quarter of Friday’s season opener against Brandon, Warren Central controlled the action and showed the improvement coach Josh Morgan was looking for.

For another quarter, however, it did the exact opposite.

Brandon scored 37 points in the second quarter Friday night and routed Warren Central 44-21 in the Red Carpet Bowl at Viking Stadium.

Brandon returned an interception for a touchdown, scored on a safety and hit on a long scoring pass to turn a seven-point deficit into a 16-point lead in less than six minutes, and led 37-7 at halftime.

Now, Warren Central must not let one terrible quarter unravel the season before its gets going. Next is a road date this Friday at Callaway, which stunned Northwest Rankin 20-16 in its season opener.

“We’ve got to get better and quickly because we have a good Callaway team next week,” Morgan said.

Warren Central won its spring game against Ridgeland, was impressive in a preseason jamboree against Jackson Academy and Lamar School, and showed plenty of promise against a Brandon team that returned most of its starters from last year’s eight-win playoff team.

WC’s offense showed balance as Aaron Stamps picked up 36 rushing yards on his first eight attempts and quarterback Carlisle Koestler completed three of his first five passes for 52 yards and a touchdown.

Koestler’s touchdown pass came on a well-executed deep post route to Justin Williams, taking advantage of a Brandon secondary that was focused on the Vikings’ prime deep threat Kourey Davis.

The Vikings’ offensive line led by senior tackle Gary Williams and sophomore Derrick Dotson provided enough early protection to allow Koestler to look down field while also opening up running lanes for Stamps.

Meanwhile, the WC defense forced a turnover on Brandon’s first drive and was close to getting a second stop as Brandon faced a second-and-25 situation to start the second quarter.

It didn’t take long for the solid start to turn ugly, though. About 10 minutes to be exact.

Brandon quarterback Gardner Minshew hit two straight 10-yard passes. Then a pass interference penalty on WC cornerback Tre Prentiss started what turned into a 37-point nightmare.

Prentiss broke up the fourth down pass, but was called for making contact with the Brandon receiver. The 15-yard interference penalty kept Brandon’s offense on the field while WC had to regroup. Three plays later, the Bulldogs were in the end zone to tie the game at 7.

Warren Central attempted to make a quick strike back and called for Koestler to execute a bubble screen. The play was read by Brandon linebacker Elijah Parker, who tipped the pass, made the interception and had an easy 15-yard stroll for a touchdown that put the Bulldogs ahead.

On the ensuing possession, Brandon blitzed Koestler two straight times, resulting in losses of 16 yards. Then a third-down snap went awry and Koestler had to fall on the ball in the end zone for a safety.

Up 16-7 after the free kick, Brandon was set up at mid-field. They went for the jugular as Gardner Minshew went deep and found Dylan Knott for a 49-yard touchdown strike. In less than six minutes, Brandon had turned a 7-0 deficit into a 23-7 lead. The Vikings could not recover and lost 44-21.

Brandon coach Brad Peterson said the game reflected his team’s offensive power.

Minshew completed 13 straight passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns. That opened up the Bulldogs’ running game, which produced 94 yards over the last three quarters.

“We have an explosive team,” Peterson said. “Once we settled down with our snaps, we got rolling.”

Warren Central could not respond until the game was well out of hand at 44-7. Koestler was just 3-of-13 for 20 yards over the last three quarters and the running game did little until two late fourth quarter touchdowns. Morgan took notice of that afterward.

“We have got to handle things better when we meet some adversity,” Morgan said. “We were able to strike first and get a lead. The defense was playing well, but then we get a tough call, an interception returned for a score, a safety and then we had a busted coverage on the long throw.”