In the Middle Ages, Europe’s Vikings were famous for pillaging the countryside and taking what they wanted. In 2024, Warren Central’s Vikings are doing their best to uphold that tradition.

Warren Central’s defense has 14 takeaways in its last four games. It’s leading not only to stops, but to points and opportunities for the offense as the Vikings begin their pursuit of a second consecutive MHSAA Region 2-6A championship this Thursday at Ridgeland. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

“It’s such a momentum-swinger, a morale swinger. Not only when you’re able to stop people, but you’re able to get the ball,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said. “Everybody who knows football knows how important it is to get turnovers, and then athletically-speaking once our guys get it they’re good with it in their hands and they’re looking to score. We teach that.”

Warren Central (2-3) and Ridgeland (3-2) will play on Thursday night because both schools are on fall break.
With both teams coming off an open date, Morgan did not think playing a day earlier than usual would have any effect on their performance.

“It would be a little more crash course type preparation” without the open date, Morgan said. “But with having the bye week we’ve had ample amount of time to prepare ourselves and I’m sure they have, too. It works out pretty good. Coming off a bye helps us for obvious reasons — to get healthy, and then a couple of extra days of preparation.”

The Vikings (2-3) have generated a turnover in 10 of their last 11 games going back to last season. They did not have any in the 2024 opener against Clinton, but made up for it over the next month.

The Vikings had four turnovers in each of three consecutive games against Pearl, Germantown and Brandon. They got two more in their last game against Madison Central.

Landon Green returned a fumble and Roosevelt Harris an interception for touchdowns in a 56-23 win over Germantown on Sept. 13. The following week against Brandon, Rickey Neal intercepted a pass on the opening series and Harris recovered a fumble to set up instant red zone opportunities that the offense cashed in for touchdowns.

Morgan said he and his coaches put an emphasis on not only creating turnovers, but how to handle the football once they happen.

“They’re an older group, a very athletic group, and they’ve done a really good job of taking away and turning defense into offense,” he said. “That’s what we want to be and what we need to be.”

Morgan added that part of what is generating all of the takeaways is a ferocious pass rush that is pressuring quarterbacks into making mistakes. The Vikings have 13 sacks and a whopping 51 tackles for loss this season.

Larry Reynolds leads the team with five sacks and 16 tackles for loss. Ronnie Blossom and Tekarius Qualls have three sacks each. The trio has also forced three fumbles.

Ten players have at least one tackle for loss, and eight have a takeaway.

“It starts with our front. Ronnie and (Reynolds) are two of the best ends around, and (Qualls) is one of the most disruptive players that there is. On the back end we have our whole secondary returning from last year,” Morgan said. “It’s the type of players we’ve got. It starts with the pressure up front and running to the football, and usually when you run to the football good things happen to you.”

THIS WEEK’S AREA GAMES
All games start at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 10
Warren Central at Ridgeland (Radio: 105.5 FM)
Friday, Oct. 11
Neshoba Central at Vicksburg (Radio: 107.7 FM)
Columbia Academy at St. Aloysius (Radio: 101.3 FM)
Columbus Christian at Porter’s Chapel (Radio: 104.5 FM)
Tallulah Academy at Prentiss Christian
Wesson at Port Gibson
Madison Parish at Rayville