The opening week of football season seemed like deja vu, a strange repeat of week one in 2011.

Fans could easily have thought a mysterious fissure in the space-time continuum whisked them away to last year.

No mad scientist and nuclear-powered DeLorean required.

Vicksburg and Warren Central went down hard to a pair of Rankin County teams in the Red Carpet Bowl.

The Gators fell to Pearl, 49-7, while the Vikings were hammered by Brandon 44-21.

St. Aloysius was defeated by Madison-St. Joe 41-7. Again, a feeling of “we’ve been here before.”

For those keeping score, the three Mississippi High School Activities Association schools in Warren County were outscored 134-35 last week.

Ouch.

Speaking of similarity, Porters Chapel won its opener, 58-0, over an overmatched opponent, Union Christian, nearly as it did the year before. That score was 56-0.

So, what does all of this mean? There’s no doubt the county is in a down cycle for football. Last season, the four teams combined for a 13-32 record. In 2010, the quartet combined for a 14-30 record.

Another key marker is the number of football players from the county who continued their careers at the college level. The county is a recruiting ground that produced great players like Michael Myers (Hinds Community College, then Alabama), Tony Smith (Southern Miss) and Brian Darden (Tennessee), but it’s gone fallow in the last few years. The last non-special teams player to sign at a Division I-A school was Warren Central’s Chico Hunter at Southern Miss in 2007.

As the old saying goes, “it’s not the Xs and the Os, but the Jimmys and the Joes.”

It’s not the fault of the coaches because high school is not like college, where recruiting can cure a host of ills. When coach Ellis Johnson at Southern Miss needs a new linebacker or a quarterback, he and his assistants can hit the recruiting trail and find one. Same with Dan Mullen at Mississippi State or Hugh Freeze at Ole Miss. They can go and get the players they need within the bounds of NCAA rules.

But it’s not the case in high school, where it’s against the rules, unless you’re in the halls at your school. Vicksburg’s Tavares Johnson Sr. did that, getting basketball players Tredarius Carter and De’Andre King to come out for football. Both are starters now.

WC coach Josh Morgan got Kourey Davis, another basketball player, to come out for football again last year, and he made a big impact at wide receiver.

But short of finding a new tight end or linebacker in the lunch line, coaches have to use the tools at their disposal.

What goes down must come up. The fortunes of football will rise again, phoenix-like, from the ashes of failed seasons. Talent will emerge, college recruiters will start to make trips to the county again and all will be right again.

Trust me.

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Steve Wilson is sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. You can follow him on Twitter at vpsportseditor. He can be reached at 601-636-4545, ext. 142 or at swilson@vicksburgpost.com.