The 2013 and 2014 seasons were a renaissance for Warren Central’s once-proud football program. It had gone 17-7 over the two-year span and shared part of the Region 2-6A championship in 2013.

Coming into 2015, however, things seemed different. The core of those teams had largely disappeared through graduation. Only seven of the 22 starters on offense and defense were coming back.

“This was a big year because of the group we lost last year. They were a really special group and we weren’t really sure how we were going to look or play without those guys,” WC head coach Josh Morgan said. “I’d be telling you a story to say there wasn’t concerns or doubts.”

To maintain the high bar the program had set, it was going to take a great effort by not only the players but the coaches to get the most out of them.

The Vikings got both.

Morgan and his staff took the relatively inexperienced roster and quickly got it to believe it could win. By September, the Vikings looked like a pretty good team. By October, they were a contender in Region 2-6A, and by November a state championship contender.

Warren Central had an eight-game winning streak, finished with a 10-3 record, and won a playoff game for the first time since 2002. For the effort of he, his staff, and everyone in the program, Morgan earned the 2015 Vicksburg Post Coach of the Year award.

“I’m very appreciative. It’s a very big honor,” Morgan said. “I think all the accolades and all that should go to our coaches.”

This is the second time that Morgan, who was hired in 2010, has won the Coach of the Year award. He also won it in 2012, when the Vikings went 6-6 and reached the playoffs for the first time in his tenure. That was also the first time Warren Central finished above .500 on his watch, but they’ve steadily improved since then.

After going 3-19 in his first two seasons, Morgan is 33-16 over the last four. Bringing the program he grew up in — his father, Robert, was Warren Central’s head coach from 1985-2003 and is still an assistant on the staff, and the younger Morgan was WC’s starting quarterback in 1997 — back to prominence has been satisfying, he said.

“Personally, I take a lot of pride in this school and this program, and all I ever wanted was to see it be successful,” Josh Morgan said. “I had good coaches and good support to help me along the way. And I’ve made a lot of friends.”

For all the recent success, this was something of a make-or-break season for Morgan’s Vikings. The departed seniors included Mississippi State signee Chris Stamps, three-time Vicksburg Post Defensive Player of the Year DeArius Christmas, Mississippi All-Star Michael Ware, and about a half-dozen others who went on to play at junior colleges or four-year schools.

How the team fared this year would determine whether Morgan was actually building a program for the long haul, or had just ridden a superb class of talent to a couple of winning seasons.

The season started off a bit shaky, with a 45-28 loss to eventual Class 5A champion Wayne County in the Red Carpet Bowl and a wild 45-42 win over Pearl. Beating Pearl, Morgan said, was a pivotal point in the season even though it was only Week 2.

“We were humbled against Wayne County, but that was the best thing that happened to us,” Morgan said. “The way our coaches and players approached that next week was a turning point for the season. The kids wanted to get after it. They didn’t want that feeling any more.”

The Vikings did experience losing again, but not for two months. They ripped off eight wins in a row, including key district victories over Madison Central and Clinton. The winning streak ended against eventual Class 6A champion Starkville, but it had put Warren Central in position to host a playoff game for the first time since 2004.

WC beat Tupelo 45-20 in that first-round matchup for its first postseason victory in 13 years.

“Looking back at the season, we established our identity and knew what we had to do to win games. We leaned hard on our strengths, figured out our weaknesses, and told our players that was what was going to win us games. And boy, they took to it,” Morgan said. “Those things were physicality and mental toughness. It just caught on. There’s not a better feeling when a young man trusts you and does what you ask him to. We got a lot out of our guys and our players. What makes it so much better is that nobody saw it coming.”

After three consecutive seasons of eight wins or more, however, opponents are likely to start circling their dates with the Vikings. That’s just fine by Morgan. It’s a sign of how far the program has come since finishing 2-9 and then 1-10 in his first two seasons, and that he has indeed re-established a culture of winning on Highway 27.

“I think you can evaluate what we’re doing, and anybody that’s paid attention to our program can tell it’s working. We’re doing it the right way,” Morgan said. “Our physicality, our size has gotten better. We look like a 6A program now. It was not a fluke. We were a very solid team. It’s been a joy to watch that take place.”

Morgan added that he feels like Warren Central is set up to be a contender for years to come. He praised the job his junior high and ninth-grade coaches have done to prepare the next wave of players to step in and fill the void of those who are moving on.

As they move up to the high school ranks, sophomores get a lot of playing time. That was part of the reason the Vikings were able to brush off the loss of so many seniors from a year ago. Even though only seven full-time starters were coming back, a number of players had seen large amounts of time on the field.

At the end of the day, Morgan added, it all comes back to trust.

In his players. In his coaches. In each other.

Eleven of the 12 coaches on staff have been at the school for two years or more, and most have been affiliated with it for far longer. Five coaches, including Josh Morgan and his brother Rob, the offensive coordinator, played football at WC and were coached by Robert Morgan or longtime assistant Larry Tyrone.

That continuity and family environment, Josh Morgan said, is the backbone of the program and hopefully it’ll continue for years to come.

“When you work with guys you trust and who care about the program as much as you do, you’ve got something special,” Morgan said. “That’s what we have. We’ve been able to maintain it and stay together, and it’s getting to the point where every coach knows what needs to be done without anything even being said. Everybody has a stake in this program. I’m blessed and fortunate to be able to coach with them.”

Vicksburg Post Coaches of the Year

2015 – Josh Morgan, Warren Central

2014 – BJ Smithhart, St. Aloysius

2013 – Tavares Johnson, Vicksburg

2012 – Josh Morgan, Warren Central

2011 – Alonzo Stevens, Vicksburg

2010 – Todd Montgomery, Central Hinds

2009 – Curtis Brewer, Warren Central

2008 – BJ Smithhart, St. Aloysius

2007 – Randy Wright, Porters Chapel

2006 – Jim Taylor, St. Aloysius

2005 – Randy Wright, Porters Chapel

2004 – Randy Wright, Porters Chapel

2003 – Robert Morgan, Warren Central

2002 – Jim Taylor, St. Aloysius

2001 – Robert Morgan, Warren Central

2000 – Robert Morgan, Warren Central

1999 – Robert Morgan, Warren Central

1998 – J.J. Plummer, Porters Chapel

1997 – Robert Morgan, Warren Central

1996 – Bubba Booth, St. Aloysius

1995 – Robert Morgan, Warren Central

1994 – Robert Morgan, Warren Central

1993 – Robert Morgan, Warren Central

1992 – Bubba Booth, St. Aloysius

1991 – Robert Morgan, Warren Central

1990 – James Knox, Vicksburg

1989 – James Knox, Vicksburg

1988 – Robert Morgan, Warren Central

1987 – Joe Edwards, St. Aloysius