Warren Central will face a familiar foe when it hits the pitch for the first round of the Class 6A playoffs. The Lady Vikes began their season with a loss to DeSoto Central, and are hoping Tuesday’s road matchup with the Lady Jaguars won’t be their season finale.

Warren Central coach Viktoria Case said it’s tough to take anything of significance from that first game, which was played more than two months ago.

“We’ve changed so much since then,” Case said. “Just like I’m sure they have too, but we’re a completely different team now.”

After suffering four straight defeats, including one to crosstown rival Vicksburg, Warren Central (6-13) is limping into the playoffs with a tough task ahead. Desoto Central is 10-0-1 in its last 11 games — its overall record is 12-6-1 — and hasn’t lost since Dec. 6 against Brandon.

Despite the Lady Vikes’ losing record, Case said they’re not letting the late-season skid shake their mental makeup.

“(Our confidence) is slowly building up right now,” she said. “I’ve got a lot of girls out with injury and the flu, so I think I’ll be seeing more of a spark on Monday when we’re practicing.”

While the girls’ squad surrounds itself with familiarity, Warren Central’s boys team is heading into the unknown.

The Vikings will hit the road, also on Tuesday, to square off against Southaven for the first time this season.

“We’re going to match up pretty good with them,” Warren Central coach Greg Head said. “They’ve played some of the teams that we’ve played, and stat-wise they may be a little bit better, but in some of those tournaments it’s hard to say because some teams might not have had everybody on their team there.”

Like their counterparts on the girls’ side, the Vikings (12-5-3) finished the regular season on a bit of a down note, dropping games to Lewisburg and Clinton before registering a blowout win over Greenville and a 1-1 tie with Florence. To Head and his team, however, it’s but a drop in the bucket.

“We’re feeling pretty good. We lost a couple games there right at the end, and then we had a good game at Florence,” Head said. “Even though we had a couple of key starters out, we really played well. Even with the loss to Lewisburg, who beat Southaven.”

Head said his team has worked on finishing offensive opportunities and is hoping a week of practice time will afford it the opportunity to fix the little mistakes that have come back to haunt it in close games.

“I think we’ve worked a couple of those bugs out,” he said. “We’re playing better right here at the end of the year.”

Warren Central has only one senior in the starting lineup right now, so it’ll be leaning on a crop of juniors who have become the nucleus of the team.

“We have a lot of younger players. When I say we’re not finishing or making key mistakes, sometimes it’s due to inexperience on the field, especially in high-pressure games,” Head said.

“We’re working together as a team,” Head continued. “In the past, we might have had only one or two good players. Now, we’re just all good … That’s our main advantage right now. Really, (our opponents) can’t key on anybody.”

Prep soccer playoffs

Tuesday

Girls

5 p.m. – Center Hill at Vicksburg

5 p.m. – Warren Central at Desoto Central

Boys

5:30 p.m. – Warren Central at Southaven

7 p.m. – Vicksburg at Lewisburg