Editor’s Note: This story will appear in “Playmakers,” The Vicksburg Post’s annual football preview magazine. The 48-page special edition is included with the Aug. 24-25 weekend print and E-editions of The Post and includes previews, features and more for all of Warren County’s high school teams.

The expectations never change at Warren Central.

The Vikings expect to be in the playoffs. They expect to win there. They expect to contend for region and state championships.

What they want to change are the results.

Warren Central has been to the second round of the playoffs four years in a row, but has not gotten further than that. It’s a maddening barrier that everyone wants to finally smash through.

“That’s a question we have to be careful with, but we have to be able to answer it,” head coach Josh Morgan said. “We’ve been very proud of our years and our consistency. We’ve been very proud of our journeys. We know that they’re hard to win, but we want that with a burning desire. We all want to be champions. That is our goal. I think it’s attainable. We’ll be in that conversation and what we do with it is up to us.”

The reason it’s attainable this year — perhaps more than many years during the team’s 12-season playoff streak — is the sheer amount of talent on the roster.

Fifteen of the 22 starters are returning, along with a number of others who saw significant playing time. The list includes all four defensive linemen and eight defensive starters; and quarterback Nash Morgan, leading rusher Eric Collins Jr., tight end Maddox Lynch, and three linemen on offense.

Junior kicker Jonah Artman, one of the best in Mississippi at his position, is also a potent weapon on special teams. Artman has kicked 17 field goals in his first two seasons, and needs seven more to break a Warren County record that has stood for 40 years.

“We have a big senior class that’s been a really good group for us, and that’s exciting. That’s experience. They’ve been in a lot of big games and it’s hard to coach experience. That’s a big plus that we will lean on,” Josh Morgan said.

Defensively, the line is the Vikings’ biggest strength. Allen Oliver, Tekarius Qualls, Ronnie Blossom, Larry Reynolds and Allen Oliver combined for 75 tackles for loss and six sacks last season.

Behind them, linebacker Gavin Davenport (88 tackles) leads a good group and cornerbacks Roosevelt Harris and Chance Ward will help lock things down in the secondary.

“They have a chance to be the best defensive line in the state. We’re going to hold them to that standard and get better every day,” Morgan said. “As far as stopping the run and pressuring quarterbacks, the best pass defense is a great pass rush so we’re excited about that. And not just the four starters. We’ve got some really good young guys behind them that we’ll be able to roll and keep everybody fresh.”

On offense, the Vikings lost two linemen and their biggest receiving threat with Zack Evans, but have almost everyone else returning.

Quarterback Nash Morgan, Josh’s son, started every game as a freshman and grew into the role as the season progressed. He finished with 1,264 yards and eight touchdowns.

“I was very pleased with Nash,” Josh Morgan said. “Number one is the intangibles. He’s got to have a different make-up, and I think that he did a good job with that. It went from him being a manager to us rolling and putting a lot on him, and he handled it like a champ.”

As for weapons, Collins had a team-high 790 yards and 13 touchdowns and was also a receiving threat with 19 catches for 201 yards. His backfield mate Aden Greer had 388 rushing yards and four touchdowns, and is also back for his senior season.

Lynch (27 receptions for 346 yards) is a big mismatch either at tight end or as a slot receiver, and senior Jaylon Winters (19 receptions for 194 yards) should slide into the role of deep threat to replace Evans.

“The cupboard’s not bare. We’ve just got to find the right pieces, find what they do best and put them in position to win,” Josh Morgan said.

Lynch has emerged as a consistent threat in the passing game the past two seasons. He has 63 receptions for 899 yards in that span, and could set the school record in both categories with another excellent season.

Lynch played quarterback earlier in his career and is also used as a runner in short-yardage situations. He had three rushing TDs in 2023.

“We’ve been asking him to do a lot. One of his biggest assets to us as an offense is his blocking. We all understand how dynamic he is in the passing game and how much of a mismatch he is for the other team. But he is just as dominant in the blocking game and in the run game, and for our team,” Josh Morgan said.

Winning hasn’t been a problem for the Vikings. In 14 seasons with Morgan as their head coach, they’ve won 102 games and been to the playoffs 12 times. Among current MHSAA Class 6A teams, only South Panola and Picayune have longer active streaks.

The problem has been winning in the playoffs. Warren Central’s last trip beyond the second round was in 1994, when it won its second state championship.

Josh Morgan said he enjoys the journey each team goes on during the course of the year, and that each is different and special in its own way. There have been teams during that 12-year run that overachieved, some that overcame huge obstacles, and contenders that simply ran into somebody better.

He also knows that, at some point, it’s time to make that journey last a little bit longer. This could be the year that it does.

“It’s a tough world that we live in. We always talk about the journey. The journey is what makes what we do enjoyable and exciting and fun,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to be successful and that helps. But we all understand the expectations for this program, and what we want to do for our community and our school is to win a state championship and we want to take everybody with us.”

2024 Warren Central schedule
All games at 7 p.m. unless noted
Aug. 30 — r-Clinton, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 6 — Pearl
Sept. 13 — at Germantown
Sept. 20 — at Brandon
Sept. 27 — Madison Central
Oct. 4 — Open date
Oct. 11 — *at Ridgeland
Oct. 18 — *at Vicksburg
Oct. 25 — *at Columbus
Nov. 1 — *Neshoba Central
Nov. 8 — *Callaway
r-Red Carpet Bowl
*MHSAA Region 2-6A games