1 of 7

Warren Central quarterback Nash Morgan (10) is hit from behind by a Brandon defender in the first half of Friday's game. Brandon beat Warren Central, 29-28. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central defensive lineman Ronnie Blossom (18) tackles Brandon's Joseph Ford and forces a fumble in the third quarter of Friday's game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Brandon linebacker Brandon Evans (34) tackles Warren Central running back Aden Greer during Friday's game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central running back Eric Collins Jr. (20) looks for running room against Brandon's defense. Collins had 14 carries for 49 yards in the Vikings' 29-28 loss on Friday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Brandon's Tyson Robinson (7) carries the football Friday against Warren Central. Robinson ran for 182 yards and two touchdowns in the Bulldogs' 29-28 victory. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central receiver Maddox Lynch (9) runs with the football after making a reception during Friday's game against Brandon. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central football players, from left, Jonah Artman, Tristan Jamison, Blake Caruthers and Lasyton Lee pose for a photo on the sideline during a break in Friday's game against Brandon. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

BRANDON — Warren Central and Brandon took turns sprinting out to two-score leads and then watching the other catch up.

Brandon’s finishing kick was the difference in the race.

Brandon’s Rhett Griffith kicked a go-ahead 30-yard field goal with 3:52 remaining, and the Bulldogs bled off most of the last seven minutes with two long drives to snatch a 29-28 victory from the Vikings on Friday.

Each team erased a 10-point deficit at different points in the game to take the lead. Brandon (3-1) scored the last nine points to take the win.

“There’s going to be some things out there that you wish you could have had one or two of them back, on both sides of the football. We have to live with that,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said. “We came to win and that’s what we planned on doing. Sometimes the close ones hurt more than the ones that aren’t close.”

Warren Central (2-2) jumped to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. An interception by Rickey Neal on the opening series set up Aden Greer’s 3-yard touchdown run, and the Vikings added a 26-yard field goal by Jonah Artman.

Brandon ripped off the next 20 points — Tyson Robinson had two touchdown runs of 57 and 24 yards, and Sladen Shack threw a 42-yard TD pass to Quincy Phillips Jr. — to take a 20-10 lead.

Warren Central got another 3-yard TD run by Greer before halftime, as well as a two-point conversion run by him, and another quick 10 points in the third quarter gave them the lead.

After Artman booted a 32-yard field goal with 3:10 left, Roosevelt Harris recovered a fumble on Brandon’s next play. That set up Greer’s 15-yard TD run that made it 28-20. Warren Central’s two scores came in a span of 23 seconds.

The Vikings went cold after that, however. Their last five offensive possessions netted a total of one first down.

“We couldn’t get a drive going and couldn’t get out of a hole,” Morgan said.

Brandon took advantage of the swoon. C.J. Martin capped a quick scoring drive with a 2-yard run to cut it to 28-26 with 46 seconds left in the third quarter. The two-point conversion was no good, but with seven minutes left in the fourth Jamerion Rollins intercepted a pass from Nash Morgan to give the Bulldogs the ball at the WC 34-yard line.

The drive stalled, but the Bulldogs got close enough for Griffith to kick his 30-yard field goal to put them ahead 29-28. Warren Central punted the ball away with three minutes and two timeouts left, but never got it back. Brandon converted on fourth-and-1 with just under two minutes left, then got another first down to run out the clock.

Robinson finished with 182 rushing yards and two touchdowns for Brandon. Shack was 18-of-33 passing for 194 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions.

Greer rushed for 86 yards and three touchdowns for Warren Central, and Eric Collins had 49 yards on 14 carries. Quarterback Nash Morgan was 15-of-28 passing for 111 yards, with no touchdowns and three interceptions.

The teams combined for seven turnovers. Neal and Dekasai Crump had interceptions for Warren Central, and Harris and Tekarius Qualls recovered fumbles.

“I’m proud of us responding, fighting back, clawing back, the back-and-forth. We were able to respond, and stay together, and stay in there,” Josh Morgan said. “I think there is a little bit of stuff that we missed, that if we do better in we definitely had a shot to win. I’m really proud of how our guys fought the whole night.”

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

More by Ernest

More Sports

Porter’s Chapel rallies for big district win over Park Place

Gators’ comeback falls short against Terry

Flashes beat Clinton Christian to notch first victory since 2022

MACCC Football Roundup: Hall, Henderson and Gulf Coast light up the scoreboard