One of Warren Central’s biggest challenges heading into next season will be replacing the playmakers that anchored the defense for the past three seasons.

There’s a long way to go before the season-opening Red Carpet Bowl, but it appears the Vikings are on the right track.

Linebacker Cedric Harris returned an interception for a touchdown, and Warren Central’s defense gave up just 200 yards to Brandon in a 27-21 victory in its spring game.

“We filled the holes really well,” said Harris, who had 61 total tackles last season. “We’ve got some upcoming seniors that are real good, some starters came back on defense, so it’s good to see. We’ve got 121 brothers, but they’re all in.”

Warren Central lost nine senior starters from last season’s defense that allowed just 10 points per game.

Harris and his teammates, though, seemed well in control of things against a Brandon team that is also rebuilding a bit.

Harris’ 18-yard interception return in the first quarter gave the Vikings a 7-0 lead. He also had a sack in the fourth quarter, and junior linebacker Tobias Bruce also got to the quarterback once.

In the second half, the WC defense forced three-and-outs on four of five possessions at one point. The other started on the WC 25-yard line when Brandon recovered a fumble. After picking up a first down on the first play, the Bulldogs wound up turning it over on downs at the 30.

Brandon did crack the defense for a touchdown on its final drive, but that came with 10 seconds remaining. The Vikings recovered the ensuing onsides kick to seal the victory.

“We had a lot of questions marks, and there’s still a long way to go. But I feel better about it after tonight,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said. “We played a lot of boys and put them in some big-time game situations, and overall I thought they handled it pretty well.”

While the Vikings’ defense was strong all night, the offense and special teams alternated between explosive and shaky.

Brandon returned an interception for a touchdown, and five consecutive second-half possessions for Warren Central failed to net a first down.

Two touchdowns — one a long pass and another a kick return — were negated by penalties. A long drive in the first quarter ended in a missed field goal.

On the bright side, however, the Vikings did sustain drives and make some big plays.

Two scoring drives in the first half lasted nine and 10 plays. Brooks Boolos capped one with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Demarcus Jones, and D.J. Knight scored on a 3-yard run to finish the other.

Knight’s touchdown gave the Vikings a 21-7 lead with 13 seconds left in the half.

The offense bogged down in the third and fourth quarters as the second and third units saw playing time, but got back into gear when the starters came back in late in the game.

Starting quarterback Jesse Wilson threw an 88-yard touchdown pass to Shaun Walton with a little more than three minutes left for what turned out to be the winning score.

“You can only go over so much. We didn’t have referees out at the practice field,” Morgan said with a smile. “We’ll clean that up. I saw a lot of good things.”

Morgan also saw a lot of players. The Vikings dressed out about 120 for the spring game — nearly 30 more players than they finished last season with.

The depth allowed for three and four varsity units to see playing time, along with the junior varsity players who got about 30 snaps apiece in between quarters of the main game.

“The good thing about it is, young men are interested in our program and what we’re doing, and they’re doing everything the right way,” Morgan said. “I don’t mind having 120 if they’ll do right and be all in. We’ve just got to buy a lot more equipment.”