Vikings rip Kirby with running game.

Same old offense, same old defense, same old Red Carpet Bowl result.

Warren Central rolled up 340 rushing yards, held Memphis-Kirby to two first downs and 14 total yards, and crushed the Cougars 37-0 in the season-opening Red Carpet Bowl Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

It was the fifth straight RCB victory for Warren Central, and the seventh in its last eight outings in the annual curtain-jerker to the prep football season.

&#8220We have so long to prepare for this game, and everybody works hard to prepare for it, and we’re in it to win it,” Warren Central fullback Vic Tyrone said. &#8220It’s always good to start with a win. That gives us momentum heading into the rest of the season.”

Tyrone led WC’s offensive onslaught with 101 rushing yards and a touchdown, and Michael Holt added 93 yards and a TD. Eric Richards kicked three field goals as the Vikings scored on all but three drives.

WC’s first possession ended with an interception deep in Kirby territory, Richards missed a 49-yard field goal with 12 seconds left in the first half, and the game’s final drive wrapped up with the Viking backups on the Kirby 3-yard line.

&#8220We scored, and the kicking game did well. We’ve got to brush up on our execution and everything’s going to be fine,” WC head coach Curtis Brewer said.

After the Vikings’ initial drive lasted more than six minutes and failed to yield any points, they couldn’t be stopped.

Holt and Tyrone alternated runs on WC’s second possession, gaining 49 yards and setting up a 28-yard field goal by Richards with 11:31 left in the second quarter. Holt did all of the work the next time the Vikings got the ball, breaking off runs of 7, 27 and 20 yards. The last one went for a touchdown and put his team ahead 10-0.

Backup quarterback Keaton Sanders lobbed a 22-yard TD pass to John Hart, and starting QB Jakoby Johnson sprinted 25 yards for another score before halftime as WC stretched the lead to 24-0. Kirby turned the ball over three times in the second quarter, setting up the last two WC touchdowns and Richards’ missed field goal at the end of the half.

&#8220I think in the first quarter it was there, but once we started making mistakes it got away from us,” Kirby head coach David Maxwell said.

The Vikings continued to grind it out in the second half. They held the ball for more than 16 minutes in the second half, driving toward a pair of field goals by Richards and a short touchdown run by Tyrone that made it 37-0 with 4:48 to go in the game.

For the game, Warren Central held the ball for more than 32 minutes and attempted only five passes.

&#8220They outsized us, for one,” Maxwell said in explaining the Vikings’ dominance. &#8220That’s probably one of the biggest ballclubs we’re going to see this year, and we just got outplayed.”

Gators dominate from start, win big.

By Sean P. Murphy.

It was Showtime at Memorial Stadium Friday night.

Vicksburg scored 28 first-half points in throttling Indianola-Gentry 42-19 in the second game of the Red Carpet Bowl Classic.

John Qualls hauled in a pair of long touchdown passes from Stanton Price and four different Gators scored rushing touchdowns.

&#8220We wanted to come out on offense and give it our all in the Red Carpet Bowl,” said Qualls, whose only two catches resulted in touchdowns of 36 and 41 yards.

Price completed 10 of 15 passes for 163 yards and the two scores, and the Gators did not turn the ball over all game.

Vernon Wolfe, Jeremy Hamlin and Delmon Robinson each had a touchdown run. Sophomore Les Lemons, nicknamed &#8220Showtime,” scored on a 13-yard touchdown on his first carry of the night. Lemons quarterbacked for three seasons without losing a game in junior high and in 9th grade.

The explosive Vicksburg offense tallied 329 yards.

&#8220We have a good team but we have to continue to work,” Vicksburg coach Alonzo Stevens said. &#8220We have to keep it rolling now. This team has a lot of potential.”

After taking a three-touchdown lead at halftime, the Gators went up 35-7 on Robinson’s touchdown run with 3 minutes, 11 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Gentry scored on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Arbur Jackson to Cedric Pomerlee to get within three touchdowns. But on the second play of the Gators’ next drive, Qualls sprinted down the left side of the field and hauled in a perfect pass from Price for a 42-13 lead.

Indianola scored a touchdown in the closing seconds. The Gators ended the night on a 25-yard scramble by Lemons.

&#8220We made some mental mistakes and did some things we need to work on,” first-year Gentry coach Phil Short said. &#8220Vicksburg capitalized on our mistakes and that is what good teams do.”

Vicksburg made a quick statement on the first play of the game as Robinson picked off a halfback pass by Gary Lewis, but the Gators were unable to find the end zone. After a Gentry punt, however, Vicksburg drove 44 yards on six plays capped by Hamlin’s 4-yard touchdown.

Michael Cooper, a two-time Vicksburg Post Soccer Player of the Year, kicked the first of his six extra points. It was his first football game.

Gentry tied the game in the final seconds of the first quarter, but the game would not stay tied long as VHS moved 39 yards in three plays. Qualls caught a 36-yard TD pass from Price for a 14-7 lead.

A Gentry fumble led to Wolfe’s 13-yard touchdown run and a 21-7 Vicksburg lead. Lemons scored his touchdown with four minutes to play in the first half.

Robinson rushed for 51 yards on seven carries and Michael Dulaney ran for 45 yards on six carries.

The Gators will be home again next week when they battle a Natchez team that is coming off a 70-0 throttling of Port Gibson.