For many of the Warren Central players, Friday’s night’s dominating 28-7 win over Northwest Rankin was all about firepower.

The attitude question was one area Warren Central right guard Willie Thomas said the Vikings coaching staff addressed during the team’s bye week.

“We addressed the fact that we had to have more intensity and that we had to play physical for all four quarters,” Thomas said.

Another Viking who had the fire was defensive back Tré Prentiss. He had two interceptions that set up two short touchdown drives for the WC offense.

“We had no fire in our last game with Natchez and that’s not us,” Prentiss said. “Tonight, we played with high energy, we played physical and we got us a good win on this night.”

A good win indeed. Warren Central is tied atop the Region 2-6A standings at 1-0 with Madison Central, Jim Hill and Murrah. Next up is Friday’s game at Greenville-Weston, which is winless through four games after falling to Murrah 41-27 last week.

Last week, Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said he was waiting for his team to put it all together. They did and now have everything in front of them.

“This puts us right where we want to be and that is 1-0 in the region,” Morgan said. “We have control of our destiny.”

While the WC defense came up with four turnovers, including two in the first half that stopped Northwest Rankin from scoring, the offense was sharp, too. WC had 136 rushing yards, led by Aaron Stamps. The junior running back topped the 100-yard mark with 106 on 22 carries.

Thomas said the WC running attack was fueled by a week of good preparation.

“We would overload a side and then our backs would cut back,” Thomas said. “The line did a good job of staying with their blocks.”

A good, solid running game also made it easier for junior quarterback Carlisle Koestler. He had his most efficient game of the season, hitting 5 of 7 passes for 85 yards and one score, a 52-yard catch and run by Greg King.

“Our line did good and this should give us a lot of confidence that we can win games in this region,” Koestler said.

Koestler also had a couple of eight yard runs that helped extend drives.

Morgan said that was part of the revised game plan.

“We needed to find a way to get him going,” Morgan said. “We knew he had had some success last year running the ball. Overall, we had a good plan and we executed it.”