There was a time, not long ago, when it looked like Vicksburg High had turned a corner in its long-running rivalry with Warren Central.

Warren Central is doing everything it can these days to squash that notion.

D.J. Knight ran for 116 yards, Jesse Wilson and D.J. Lane each ran for a touchdown, and Warren Central registered its fourth consecutive win in the series with Vicksburg, 23-0 Friday night at Viking Stadium.

Vicksburg beat WC five consecutive times from 2007-11, but hasn’t won since. Including a forfeit in 2012, the Gators have been shut out in three of the last four meetings with their crosstown rivals.

“It feels great to be able to keep the tradition going, and then keeping our team up. We’re just trying to make sure we keep it rolling on to the next game,” said Warren Central defensive lineman Caleb Watts, who had one of the Vikings’ four sacks.

The loss blunted the momentum of a 2-0 start for Vicksburg. It had 195 yards of total offense, gave up a touchdown on a blocked punt, and never seriously threatened to score.

The Gators only snapped one play inside the red zone, on a first-and-10 at the WC 19-yard line in the second quarter. It resulted in a 3-yard loss, and they ended up turning it over on downs three plays later.

“I think for the biggest part, the kids let the game be bigger than them in the sense of not taking a deep breath and executing the plays,” Vicksburg coach Marcus Rogers said. “We had guys doing too much instead of believing in the system. Warren Central stayed within their system. We stopped them again and again and they stayed with it, and by the end it started to work for them.”

Warren Central wasn’t much better on offense, at least for the first two quarters. It had just 100 yards of offense in the first half. DemMarcus Jones blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown midway through the first quarter, and Nick Wright kicked a 34-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to put the Vikings ahead 10-0.

Vicksburg’s struggling offense gave WC consistently good field position, however, and the Vikings eventually took advantage of it.

Taking over at their own 45 with 4:50 left in the third quarter, the Vikings went down the field in five plays for their first offensive touchdown of the night. Wilson took a quarterback draw 19 yards for the score and a 16-0 lead.

“I felt like after that touchdown they started letting up. So then we just finished the game off,” Wilson said.

After another Vicksburg possession ended on downs at the WC 42, the Vikings again went the length of the field in five plays for a touchdown. A 39-yard run by Knight moved the ball to the 10-yard line, and Lane finished it off on the next play to make it 23-0 with 8:32 remaining.

Vicksburg got the ball two more times, but only got three first downs before the clock ran out.

“It was a good game. Coach Rogers and his staff have done a good job, and they’re doing good things. We were fortunate enough to come out with a win on a good football team,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said. “So it feels good, of course, for it to all be over with and now we can all get on with the rest of our season.”