With its pride wounded from last week’s throttling by top-ranked Madison Central, Warren Central rediscovered its defensive identity against Murrah.

The Viking defense had 10 tackles for loss, including five sacks, in a 14-0 shutout of the Murrah Mustangs. The win keeps alive WC’s hopes of a home playoff game as it improves to 3-1 in Region 2-6A and 5-3 overall. The Vikings travel to Clinton next week in a battle for the region’s second seed.

“We can use this game as momentum going into Clinton next week. We’re still alive for second place and a home playoff game,” said Viking linebacker Jericho Harris, who combined with Tim Comans for three sacks, and also came up with a key fourth quarter interception.

Comans, who played both guard and defensive tackle, helped Tim Jones run for 137 yards and score both of the game’s only touchdowns. Harris’ interception with 9 minutes and 14 seconds left, set up Jones’ 11-yard score to cinch the victory.

“Murrah had a good team, but I felt we earned some respect back tonight,” said Comans, who also drew two critical holding calls on the Mustangs’ last drive of the night. One of the calls erased a 33-yard touchdown pass with three minutes left.

“I have to give it to Tim Comans. Murrah had to start doubling on him, and that just made it easier on me to make a play,” Harris said. “Murrah had some really good athletes, we just had to keep making plays.”

WC coach Curtis Brewer was glad to see him team respond, even though, the Vikings did play rather conservative after taking an early 7-0 lead.

“You can’t complain about a win. Murrah threw a lot of things at our defense, but they held them out. We really dialed some things down on offense because Murrah has so much talent on offense,” Brewer said.

Both teams opened the game with sustained drives but Murrah (2-6, 0-4) ran into problems when it reached WC’s 34. Tim Jones had the Vikings’ first sack of the game of Mustang quarterback Jabri Harris for a 10-yard loss. The Mustangs then blew the punt snap for a 26-yard loss back to the WC 30.

It took just four plays for Jones to score his 11th touchdown of the season, this on a 15-yard run. Devon Bell added the kick for a 7-0 lead with 1:45 left in the first quarter.

WC had a bad snap of its own to give the Mustangs a golden opportunity at the WC 34. The Vikings, however, forced a second straight turnover on downs to stop the threat.

The Mustangs came back in the final minute of the half when Harris hit Marcus Stevenson for a 26-yard gain to the Viking 1 with 19 seconds to go.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, they no longer had standout tailback Greg Riley to finish the drive. Riley had gone out of the game on the previous series with a knee injury. He had 67 yards to that point. He did not return.

On first down, Harris tried to sneak it, but was stood up for no gain. He then spiked the ball to give the Mustangs one more shot at the end zone on third down.

Harris tried to roll out left but was met by WC corner Greg Wright for a 2-yard loss as time expired.

Punts were the rule for most of the second half.

Another bad bunt snap by Murrah gave WC a scoring chance, but Bell’s 39-yard field goal was blocked.

Jericho Harris’ interception on a tipped ball changed things back in the Vikings’ favor.

Jabri Harris finished 11-of-20 passing for 107 yards. WC did not complete a pass and ended with 194 yards rushing.

Central Hinds 20, Tallulah 0

Central Hinds quarterback Jordan Currie scored on a 2-yard run, and tailback Hunter Farrier scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter. Tailback Jordan Townsend added a 2-yard run in the third quarter to cap the scoring for Central Hinds. Central Hinds improved to 5-4, while Tallulah fell to 6-3.

Hinds AHS 18, Madison St. Joe 0

Quarterback Javonte Robinson scored a 2-yard touchdown for Hinds AHS (5-4) in the first quarter. Running back Darius Newton ran for a 6-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Robinson scored on a 4-yard scamper in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring for Hinds. Robinson rushed for 106 yards on 18 carries and added 12 completions for 110 yards through the air.

Port Gibson 27, Crystal Springs 0

Joshua Dotson had 111 yards passing and 36 yanrds and a touchdown rushing as Port Gibson (4-5, 1-2 Region 7-4A) routed Crystal Springs (0-8, 0-3).

Dominic Savage had two carries for 105 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown, and Adarrius Barnes added a 22-yard TD run for the Blue Waves. Mitchell Hoskins recorded a safety and a two-point conversion, while Silento Sayles booted a 20-yard field goal and was 2-for-2 on PATs.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com