Lately, Warren Central’s boys soccer team has been working on penalty kicks to prepare for a potential overtime shootout in the playoffs or a key region game.

The Vikings did not find themselves in that situation Tuesday, but they did get plenty of practice against a live target.

Warren Central converted three penalty kicks, and followed up another for a fourth goal as it defeated Vicksburg High 7-0 in the MHSAA Region 2-6A opener for both teams.

“I have never seen that many PKs in a game,” Warren Central coach Greg Head said. “I don’t know what’s going on. It just happens, I guess. We had chances and I think they got panicked and would just take us out.”

Warren Central (9-1-1, 1-0 Region 2-6A) was awarded and made three penalty kicks in the first half. Jacob Porter, Duke Esparza and Jackson Holden all converted their chances following fouls in the box.

Nick Lee had a more conventional goal, on a shot that deflected off the hands of Vicksburg keeper Arthur Davis and caromed into the net, to put the Vikings ahead 4-0 at halftime.

Two minutes into the second half, Davis fouled a Warren Central player on a breakaway inside the box to give the Vikings yet another penalty kick. Davis stopped the PK and the ball appeared to go out of bounds behind the goal line, but officials did not blow the whistle.

Esparza alertly followed it up and scored while most of the other players had stopped to make it 5-0.

Davis made 12 saves in the first half, and 19 in the game, but the penalty kicks helped Warren Central blow the game open.

“Just some unlucky breaks,” Vicksburg coach Maurice Gilliam said. “But the guys have made a lot of progress. We’ve still got our eyes on making the playoffs this year.”

Porter got a second goal in the 51st minute, off an assist from Charlie Esparza, and Luke Bond scored in the 57th to finish a solid — if somewhat odd — victory for the Vikings.

Besides the penalty kicks, Head said that with a big lead he took the opportunity to work on some other things the Vikings might need down the road.

“We got to work on a different formation, too. If you get in a game and need a score we wanted to go into a different formation and this was a good time to work on it,” Head said. “I hate running up the score, but that’s our first game back since Thanksgiving and we’ve got to get back in our groove. It was a good time to shake off all that rust and start playing good again.”