With a couple of championship contenders on the schedule and some parts of the team still coming together, no one associated with Vicksburg High’s football program expected the early part of the season to be easy.

They didn’t think it would be this frustrating, either.

Friday’s 35-6 loss to Clinton dropped the Gators’ record to 0-2. It’s the first time they’ve lost their first two games since 2012, and with a talented Warren Central squad up next they’ll need to improve in a hurry to avoid a very sour hat trick.

“Everything’s in place as far as what we’re trying to do. Win the district championship, get to the playoffs, all of that’s still intact,” Vicksburg coach Lorenzo Breland said. “We knew these games weren’t going to be easy. We knew we were going to have to be battle tested to make a push in the playoffs. It’s just one of those things where we’re just going to have to battle through it.”

Through two games, however, the Gators have emerged more battle scarred than battle tested. They’ve scored a total of 12 points in losses to Oxford and Clinton — one of their two touchdowns was scored by the defense — and have a total of 35 rushing yards.

A young and banged-up offensive line has struggled to open running lanes, which has allowed opponents to key on the passing game with predictably disastrous results.

Quarterback Joe Johnson completed just 9 of 22 passes for 82 yards against Oxford, and then was sacked seven times by Clinton. He was sacked once by Oxford.

Johnson did complete 13 of 18 passes for 192 yards against Clinton, including an 80-yard touchdown to Tyler Wilbert in the fourth quarter. By then, however, the game had already gotten out of hand.

Breland said there weren’t any easy fixes for the line, but did acknowledge he and his coaching staff need to find one fast.

“We knew that was going to be one of the spots we had to work on this offseason. We lost four starters. Our starting guard was out this week and we’ve been a little banged up. We just have to find a way to fix it,” Breland said.

Johnson said the players themselves need to be part of the solution. Putting in some extra time and effort in practice is as necessary to improving the team’s play as any game plan the coaches conjure up, he said.

“We’ve just got to get more pride about ourselves, and make sure we’re focused at practice and staying after practice and getting board work in, and just make sure we’re all in for the program,” Johnson said. “We’ve just got to give 100. We can’t miss, we can’t be laughing and playing. We’ve just to give it all we’ve got.”

One thing that could help pull the Gators out of their funk is facing Warren Central. They haven’t beaten the Vikings in the River City Classic since 2011 and have been shut out twice during their current five-game losing streak in the series.

Getting a win won’t be easy. Warren Central is a championship contender in Class 6A and is coming off its own frustrating loss, 28-21 to Pearl on Friday. Breland, however, said snapping both the long-term losing streak to their crosstown rival and the short-term skid to start the season is the best medicine the Gators can receive right now.

“If we win this one, everything will be forgotten about,” Breland said. “Any time you have a rival game coming up, we want to focus on that. The kids want to win. So you want to focus on that and get in the win column.”

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Vicksburg Post reporter Brandon O’Connor contributed to this report.