It was ugly, nasty and sloppy — and that was just the field.

The end result, however, was simply beautiful.

Brooks Boolos threw a go-ahead, 35-yard touchdown pass to Miraculous Powers with about three minutes remaining, and Warren Central gutted out a 14-8 victory over Callaway on a dark and stormy Friday night in Jackson.

The win sends the Vikings into the Class 6A playoffs with some momentum, and another fortuitous result will send them home. Starkville routed Clinton 45-7 on Friday to clinch the Region 2-6A championship.

Starkville’s win ensured Warren Central (9-2, 6-1 Region 2-6A) of a second-place finish and a home playoff game against Tupelo next Friday. It’s the first time since 2004 that Warren Central will host a playoff game.

“We’ve been mighty close to it the last two years, and it worked out for us this year,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said of hosting a playoff game. “We’re proud of that. But it don’t mean nothing if we don’t win it.”

Heavy rain poured down throughout Friday’s game and immediately affected the tone. Early in the first quarter, Boolos had the ball slip out of his hand on a pass attempt inside his own 5-yard line. It hit a lineman in the helmet and was ruled a fumble that Callaway recovered. The Chargers scored on the next play, and a two-point conversion gave them an 8-0 lead that they held for most of the game.

“It was not fun,” Morgan said of the rainy conditions. “You can’t do anything in it, honestly. Every snap you make is an adventure. We had to adapt pretty good and emphasize the quarterback-center exchange and the quarterback-running back exchange. It was not playing football. It was trying not to turn the ball over.”

Warren Central blocked two punts in the game, both of which led to scores. DeMarcus Jones punched in a 1-yard run following the first blocked punt, but a two-point try failed. It took until the waning moments of the game for the Vikings to finally get the lead.

On the heels of the second blocked punt, Boolos tossed the 35-yard TD pass to Powers to put Warren Central ahead for the first time. The defense held on during Callaway’s last-ditch drive, and the Vikings got on the rainy road back to Vicksburg with their ninth win of the season.

“I told the guys I might have been more proud of them in this win than any of them,” Morgan said. “We had to reach extremely deep and find a way to win, and that’s exactly what we did.”

Up next

MHSAA Class 6A playoffs

Tupelo (6-5) at Warren Central (9-2)

Friday, 7 p.m.

Radio: 105.5 FM

Online: For live updates, visit Facebook.com/thevicksburgpost and Twitter.com/vicksburgpost