Year in Review: Warren Central’s success, Brown and Anderson’s breakthroughs were 2024’s biggest sports highlights

Published 4:00 am Tuesday, December 31, 2024

By Ernest Bowker

A steady stream of playoff breakthroughs and success flowed through the 2024 sports year in Warren County.

Warren Central reached the MHSAA Class 6A semifinals in boys and girls soccer and football, and the state championship series in baseball. Its swim team, meanwhile, won the North State team title, finished second at the state meet, and earned five individual state championships.

Warren Central’s outstanding sports year started last winter on the soccer field.

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The girls’ team won the Region 2-6A title, then beat Grenada and Neshoba Central in the playoffs to reach the Class 6A semifinals for the first time since the MHSAA made girls soccer a varsity sport in the mid-1990s. The victory against Grenada was the program’s first in the postseason since 2005.

The boys’ team also won two playoff games to reach the semifinals for the first time since the early 1990s.

“It’s amazing. I’m so proud of every single girl on this team. We’re making history. It literally feels like heaven,” senior Gloria Hall said after the Lady Vikes’ 3-1 win vs. Neshoba Central in the second round. “It feels like a breath of fresh air to finally see ourselves where we want to be.”

Another breakthrough followed in the spring, when WC’s softball team reached the second round of the playoffs and the baseball team reached the Class 6A finals for the first time since 2001.

The softball team’s postseason road included a thrilling 10-inning, 7-6 victory over Grenada in Game 3 of a first-round series. The baseball Vikings were swept by George County in two close games at Trustmark Park.

“To get here is so hard. I’m trying to get them to understand that,” Warren Central coach Randy Broome said after the final game of the championship series. “I can’t take the pain away, but be proud of what we did to get here. It’s a grind and you’ve got to do a lot of things right to get to this moment and get to this point to play for a title.”

In the fall, swimming and football kept the train rolling. The swim team won the North State team title, finished second at the state meet, and earned five individual state championships in October.

Ashtin Wallace and Avery Greer each won an individual state championship in the boys’ 200 yard individual medley and girls’ 100 yard freestyle, respectively. The Vikings also won three relay state titles.

A month later, the football team punched through its own postseason wall. The Vikings hadn’t been past the second round of the playoffs since 1994, but finally did it by beating South Panola 21-3.

The Vikings lost 23-10 to eventual state champion Grenada in the Class 6A semifinals on Nov. 22.

“Great year. Really good football team. I really felt like we had an opportunity to be state champions, and we all had that dream. It didn’t come out for us,” Vikings coach Josh Morgan said after the loss to Grenada. “But our guys and what they mean to us, and what we’ve built here is on a good foundation. We love our kids and they’ll never forget this ride.”

While Warren Central was responsible for many of Warren County’s notable sports moments in 2024, there were plenty of others:

• Former St. Aloysius football star Ben Brown and Vicksburg High’s Nick Anderson both capped long journeys to success on the professional level.

Brown, an offensive lineman, played for three teams in 2023. In October the New England Patriots signed him off the Las Vegas Raiders’ practice squad and inserted him into the starting lineup.

Brown started 10 consecutive games — and all 667 of the team’s offensive snaps — after signing with the Patriots. The streak was broken when he missed last weekend’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers because of a concussion.

“It’s been a long journey, but I think my faith and my family has really helped me to keep pushing and to keep fighting, so I’m very thankful for that,” Brown said in October.

Anderson followed a similar path. He was cut by the New Orleans Saints at the end of training camp in 2023, then signed with the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Elks in March.

Anderson earned a starting job at linebacker for the Elks and continued to shine all season long. He led the CFL with 116 total tackles, was named to the All-CFL team, and in November won the league’s Most Outstanding Rookie award.

“I’m truly blessed, man,” Anderson said during his acceptance speech for the Most Outstanding Rookie award. “Those that know my story, those that know what I’ve been through, those that have been with me every part of the way, those that are just now coming into my life, know that I’m very dedicated to what I do each and every day. What I do on a daily basis comes down to the pillars of three things that are very important to me. First being God, second being family, and third being football.”

• Warren County’s current generation of high school football players made history with a string of record-breaking performances.

Vicksburg High running back DeCorey Knight Jr. broke the school’s career rushing record that had stood for 45 years. Knight rushed for 1,169 yards this season and finished his high school career with 3,066. His total includes one season at Warren Central, and his VHS school record is 2,998 yards.

Warren Central kicker Jonah Artman booted 10 field goals and set the Warren County career record with 27.
Porter’s Chapel Academy’s Jase Jung smashed every Warren County rushing record on the books.

Jung, a senior, finished the season with 3,712 yards and 48 touchdowns, and his high school career with 6,422 yards and 87 TDs.

Jung also set the county’s single-game record for yards (532) and touchdowns (7) in a 58-56 loss to Delta Academy on Aug. 23.

“I knew I was going to have a successful career, but this was insane,” Jung said. “Sometimes I would be like, I cannot believe this. It blew my mind a lot.”

• St. Aloysius’ football team only won three games in 2024, but two of them were among the most memorable in the program’s recent history.

On Sept. 20, Pierson Smith ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns as the Flashes beat Clinton Christian 19-6 to snap a 23-game losing streak that began in Week 2 of the 2022 season.

After beating Manchester Academy on Oct. 18 to clinch their first playoff berth since 2020, the Flashes went to Winston Academy for a first-round game that turned into an epic.

The teams were scoreless at the end of the fourth quarter, then played five overtime periods to determine the winner.
Sadler Lambiotte scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run, and Dru Gleese broke up a pass on the final play of Winston Academy’s next possession as the Flashes won 33-27.

“It’s huge for the program and what we’re trying to do. Making the playoffs is the standard now. We’re just going to try and up the bar on it,” first-year St. Al coach Walker Mosby said after the game.

• In December, Warren Central’s girls’ basketball team also snapped a long losing streak. The Lady Vikes beat Pearl 34-30 on Dec. 5 to end a 35-game dry spell that spanned parts of three seasons. They added another win against Port Gibson on Dec. 13.

“We’ve been working toward it, we’ve been talking about it, we’ve been close. I’ve seen spurts where it’s there, but we just can’t get there. Getting them to believe that you can do it when they hadn’t seen it, that’s hard,” first-year Lady Vikes coach Heather Casey said after beating Pearl. “But we grind, we work hard in practice, and we tell ourselves we are going to win,. We came into this game thinking we’re going to win. That was the focus today — only winning. Don’t worry about how we do it. Don’t worry about the mistakes. Win.”

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.

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