In what coach Robert Morgan called an emotionless game, No. 10 Warren Central throttled Region 2-5A rival Greenville, 35-7, in front of a sparse crowd at Viking Stadium.

“They weren’t a very good team and to get emotionally up to play is pretty hard,” Morgan said.

John Hicks, who rushed for a game-high 126 yards and scored two touchdowns, led the Vikings to 295 rushing yards, while the staunch WC defense held the Hornets to minus-4 yards rushing in the game minus-35 in the second half.

“It really wasn’t what their defense was doing, it was that we made way too many mistakes,” Greenville coach Phil Short said. “We had several opportunities to put points on the board, but could never sustain anything.”

The Vikings (7-1, 3-1 Region 2-5A) powered past Greenville with a relentless running game and a suffocating defense.

WC’s Thad Henderson had 10 tackles and three sacks and at one point, forced freshman quarterback David Surney to fumble, then after Surney scooped up the ball, Henderson tackled him again for a 6-yard loss.

“We were able to play a lot of boys on both offense and defense,” Morgan said. “Our defense is still getting better.”

Surney passed for 161 yards, but was picked off twice one each by Chris Hemphill and Antonio Brown in the second half.

Perry McGee added 85 yards on the ground for WC and Leonard Harris had 58 yards and a touchdown on five carries.

Quarterback Brett Morgan, playing in front of his two older brothers, Josh, the starting free safety for Mississippi State, and Rob, who is a graduate assistant for the Bulldogs, scored on runs of 5 and 7 yards.

After stalling on its first possession, Greenville put up little resistence against Hicks, a hard-nosed fullback. Three plays after taking possession, Hicks burst through for a 6-yard score with 9:35 left in the first quarter.

Kevin Sanders scored the lone touchdown for Greenville six minutes later on a 1-yard plunge.

The Vikings added Hicks’ second score and Morgan’s 5-yarder to take a 21-7 halftime lead.

Two third-quarter fumbles by WC gave Greenville chances, but a goal-line stand and a stop at the 8-yard line crippled the Hornets’ drives.

Midway through the fourth, Morgan scored again from 7 yards out. Harris added the final score, a 3-yard run with just over a minute to play in the game.

Robert Morgan spent most of the postgame talking not about his team’s win, but about the obstacle standing in the Vikings’ way undefeated Clinton.

“If we have trouble getting ready for this one, we’ve got a problem,” Morgan said of the No. 2 Arrows. “This will be the biggest game we’ve played in a while and in big games, we need people to make big plays.

“We’re playing maybe the best team in the state, even without (injured running back) Coco (Hodge). Even in junior high, they kicked everyone around.”