As you might expect from a team that hadn’t played a game in two weeks, Warren Central looked a little rusty Tuesday.

A few goals worked better than a can of WD-40, though, and by the end of the night the Vikings were a well-oiled machine.

Duke Esparza had a goal and three assists — all in the second half — and Warren Central blew past Lake Cormorant 7-3 in the first round of the MHSAA Class 6A boys’ soccer playoffs.

Warren Central (17-2-2) advanced to the second round to face Saltillo (12-9), which beat Neshoba Central 6-1 on Tuesday. They’ll play Saturday at Viking Stadium, although the time has not yet been set.

“Once we got that third goal we found our rhythm. The passes were clicking, clicking, clicking,” Esparza said. “We realized we just need to find the space in the back and shifted up, and it was barbecue chicken from there.”

It took a little bit for the Vikings to start cooking, though.

Luis Cano scored just five minutes into the game to put Lake Cormorant (6-10) ahead 1-0, and he added a second goal on a 35-yard free kick in the 23rd minute.

In between, Warren Central struck for three goals to take a 3-2 lead into halftime. Reed McClurg converted a penalty kick, while Jacob Porter scored on two breakaways in a two-minute span.

Coach Greg Head said the Vikings’ long layoff — this was their first game since Jan. 17 — contributed to the slow start.

“We haven’t played in two weeks, and I think right there at first we were a little bit rusty and slow, and that gave them that goal. After we started playing everything started coming together,” Head said.

Just two minutes into the second half, Esparza went to work. His corner kick was deflected into the net by Daniel Wescott for a goal, and in the 55th minute he repeated the pattern with Luke Bond getting the honors to make it 5-2.
Esparza set up Wescott for another goal in the 61st minute, then finally got one of his own two minutes later.

Esparza started a run up the left sideline from midfield. He beat his defender, cut back to the middle, then somehow worked the ball around three more Lake Cormorant defenders at the 10-yard line. After all that work he beat the keeper with a clean shot for a highlight-reel goal that made it 7-2.

“I was thinking one goal would be great. Just to get one for myself to go with the three assists was quite nice. After taking the first man on and hearing, ‘He’s not going to do nothing,’ that just pushed me even more,” Esparza said. “I thought I was going to beat that one guy and be free. I had to basically take on the whole team.”

Cano completed his hat trick for Lake Cormorant with a free kick goal in the 70th minute, but it was cosmetic as far as the score goes.

For Warren Central, Porter and Wescott wound up with two goals apiece while Bond, McClurg and Esparza netted one each. Given the fast pace of the first half, Esparza said he knew the Vikings would have to keep scoring to win — and they did.

“It showed us that, no matter how many goals they got, we were still going to be right there with them,” Esparza said. Then we kept getting more goals and I guess we were tiring them out, so we kept getting more and more.”