Warren Central’s best season in a decade ended just like all the others.

Nic Kennedy threw two touchdown passes to Terrence Davis Jr., and Southaven’s defense shut down Warren Central all night long to claim a 17-7 victory Friday night in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs.

Warren Central (9-3) lost for the third time in four games — all against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 poll — as its season came to a frustrating finish. The Vikings have lost eight consecutive playoff games dating to 2002.

“Of course it’s disappointing. I hated to see us go out like that. But the bottom line is they were better than us tonight. We didn’t make enough plays in the game,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said.

Southaven (10-2) advanced to the second round to face Starkville (12-0), which beat Tupelo 30-0 on Friday night.

The matchup between WC and Southaven seemed relatively even on paper, but the Chargers kept the Vikings from ever gaining traction on offense. WC’s lone highlight was a 57-yard touchdown run by D.J. Knight in the third quarter.

“They were very well-coached,” Morgan said of Southaven. “One of the advantages they had on us was they had seniors stacked across the board, and they played well.”

Southaven didn’t put a lot of points on the board, but ran the ball effectively enough to eat up clock and threw it to the 6-foot-4 receiver Davis when it got into scoring range.

Kennedy tossed an 18-yard TD pass to Davis late in the first quarter, then a 19-yarder with 7:24 left in the third to put the Chargers ahead 17-0.

Ryan Robbins booted a 23-yard field goal midway through the second quarter for Southaven’s other points.

Warren Central had several chances to get back in the game, but squandered most of them.

Chris Stamps intercepted two passes on back-to-back touchdowns in the first half to set WC up in Southaven territory, but the ensuing drives ended in a turnover and a punt.

In the second half, Knight’s long touchdown run cut the deficit to 17-7 with 6:58 to go. WC quickly got the ball back, but wound up punting in Southaven territory.

The Vikings’ final offensive drive of the season ended with less than three minutes to go when Alex Stevens threw incomplete in the direction of Stamps.

“We got two turnovers in the first half and had a chance to flip momentum, and weren’t able to convert them into points,” Morgan said.