Friday night will mark the end of a fairly forgettable season for Vicksburg High.

The Gators (4-6, 2-4 Region 2-5A) were eliminated from playoff contention with last week’s loss to Callaway, and even a win in the regular-season finale against Neshoba Central won’t nudge their record over .500.

Coach Marcus Rogers, however, is trying to view this ending as a beginning — to the offseason training program, to the next generation of players, and to what he hopes is a more successful era of Vicksburg football.

“We’re trying to move the program in a different direction, so we need to end the season with a win. That’d get us going into the spring and offseason heading in the right direction,” Rogers said.

After reaching the playoffs and finishing 6-6 last season, the Gators took a step backward in Rogers’ first season with the program.

They’ll finish with a losing record for the fifth time in six years thanks in large part to an offense that has struggled to hang on to the ball and score points.

VHS has rushed for just 827 yards as a team — the leading rusher, Ernest Stevenson, has 213 yards — and scored 179 points. They’ve only scored more than 21 points once in 10 games.

For Rogers, an offensive coach who was the architect of a high-powered unit at Murrah, it’s been especially worrisome.

“It’s been disappointing for me, offensively, because I’m not used to some of the results we’ve been getting. Although the defense wasn’t the typical Baltimore Ravens-type defense, they stopped enough each game for us to win ballgames and have a better record,” Rogers said. “I take the blame for that. Offensively, we only have 179 total points. That is unacceptable.”

There have been some bright spots.

Quarterback Marquez Pickett has thrown for 1,595 yards and 10 touchdowns, and senior receiver Kareeme Butler emerged as a breakout star in the second half of the season.

Butler has had at least 100 receiving yards in each of the last five games. For the season, he has a team-high 33 receptions for 702 yards and four touchdowns. Rogers said Butler has received scholarship offers from a half-dozen junior colleges.

“He’s got a high ceiling. He’s just coming into his own. But he practices hard. For guys who practice hard, Friday is easy,” Rogers said.

Butler and Pickett, both seniors, will be playing their last game Friday night, but some others will get the chance to make a first impression.

Freshman quarterback Joe Johnson, the heir apparent to the senior Pickett, will see plenty of playing time against Neshoba Central, Rogers said. A host of other freshmen and sophomores have been filtered in and out of the lineup through the course of the season.

Behind those underclassmen, a talented crop of eighth-graders is a year or two away, Rogers added.

“The eighth-grade kids that are going to be freshmen, they’re the biggest kids I’ve seen. They’re bigger than my group now. We’re going to get them in the weight program, and hopefully we can find a couple of diamonds in the rough and bring them on up,” Rogers said. “And the ninth grade is real talented. I think the future is real bright, and Friday night will start our future.”

On the radio

Friday, 7 p.m., 1490 AM

Neshoba Central at Vicksburg