Warren Central’s Rod Goings (99) closes in on Tupelo fullback Rick Stokes during Friday’s Class 5A playoff game at Viking Stadium. Goings recovered two fumbles, but WC lost 3-0. (Brian LodenThe Vicksburg Post)

[11/15/04] When Joey Bonelli’s last-second field goal was blocked Friday night, the thud of the football on a Tupelo lineman’s hand echoed throughout Viking Stadium.

In the silence that followed, the next sound was a window of opportunity slamming shut.

Warren Central lost to Tupelo 3-0 in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs on Friday. It was an early finish to a season the Vikings hoped would end with a deep run into the postseason, and possibly a state championship.

“I just don’t think I, or any of us as coaches, really were prepared. Whatever responsibility there is to be taken, the coaches will take it,” WC coach Curtis Brewer said. “All in all, I just don’t think we showed that spark we had this year.”

The Vikings, who have won back-to-back Region 2-5A championships, now begin the arduous task of replacing a veteran offensive lineup.

Running back Larry Warner, who totaled nearly 3,000 rushing yards the last two seasons, is gone. So are quarterback Christian Hales, receivers Fred Payne and Skylar Wilson and fullback Jesse Pedyfoot.

Three of the five starting linemen from this year’s team are also gone, meaning nine of 11 starters on the offensive side of the ball need to be replaced. One of next year’s projected starters, junior quarterback Ryan Williams, did see significant playing time at the end of this season.

“We’ve got a lot of shoes to fill. But again, that’s part of high school football,” Brewer said. “Whatever’s here, we’re going to work just as hard with them. You don’t replace Larrys, and you don’t replace Christians, and you don’t replace Jesses.

“Somebody will take their position, but there will never be another Jesse and there will never be another Larry. But there will be somebody who’s going to pick up the shovel and go to work.”

Defensively, the situation is a little better. Only four starters defensive backs Otis Stamps and Donald Neal, lineman Zach Balthrop and linebacker Micheal Horton are graduating.

With the bulk of that unit returning, defense again figures to be the strength of the Vikings in 2005. It carried the team on Friday, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a sluggish offense in a game that could have been a preview of next season.

The defense held Tupelo to 152 yards and a couple of field goal attempts, but WC’s offense managed only 87 yards. Warner, who had 1,776 yards entering the game, was held to 67 on 18 carries. Like several other teams had done earlier in the year, the Golden Wave geared its defense to stop him. Only this time, no one else seemed prepared to step in and fill the void.

In two other games where Warner had been held under 100 yards, Pedyfoot totaled 165 yards on 11 carries. On Friday, hobbled by an ankle injury, Pedyfoot had just 9 yards on four carries.

Hales was 5-for-14 passing for 22 yards although at least four of those incompletions were drops by his receivers and Williams was 0-for-7 after coming on in relief in the fourth quarter.

“We never did do anything real successful against them. I thought the big thing that hurt us was we dropped a lot of crucial footballs that would have gave the offense some breathing room,” Brewer said. “You’ve got to give Tupelo credit for that, too.”

The strong defense should help WC stretch its streak of consecutive playoff appearances to 21 next season. The young offense might keep another troubling streak alive, however.

Since winning its second state championship in 1994, the Vikings have not advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs. They are 3-10 in the postseason in that span and went six seasons, from 1995-2001, without a playoff victory.

In its last five playoff games, dating to 2001, WC has scored just two offensive touchdowns and been shut out three times. Two of the shutouts have come in the last two seasons, a 22-0 loss to Horn Lake in 2003 and Friday night’s loss to Tupelo.

This season’s team, with Warner, Hales and a strong defense that held 10 of 12 opponents to 14 points or less, looked like it might end that skid. Instead, the only end was to a promising season.

“We all felt this would have been, with the skill people we had on offense, we had good corners, good defensive folks that we had been playing,” Brewer said of a chance to win a state title. “I wouldn’t say it was a squandered opportunity. The kids played hard … and I know it hurt them to lose as bad as it did us. Because you have such high expectations and have lofty goals. And if you don’t have high expectations and lofty goals, then you’ll never be trying to achieve. You’ll just be trying to be what you can be.”