On an absolutely wretched night, Warren Central had the perfect plan, perfectly executed.

The Vikings methodically wore down No. 3 Starkville on offense, locked them down on defense, and pounced on every mistake. The result was a thoroughly dominant 23-0 victory that had them jumping for joy as they shivered on a cold, rainy evening.

Jerry Stovall rushed for 102 yards and three touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter, as Warren Central (7-3, 4-2 Region 2-6A) handed Starkville (9-2, 5-1) its first shutout loss since 2009.
Corey Wilson, Jr. added 83 rushing yards on 20 carries for Warren Central.

“We were tremendously sharp in these conditions. I thought we played to the conditions, and we just did a great job of playing winning football and executing,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said. “I can’t say enough about our defensive stands, and the toughness. They had some really long drives in there and we were able to bend but not break.”

The win was the 400th in school history for Warren Central, and came at a most opportune time. It clinched a berth in the Class 6A playoffs heading into next week’s regular-season finale at Provine, and also kept alive its hopes of moving up in Region 2-6A pecking order.

Warren Central is currently in fourth place, but can move up to as high as second with a win over Provine coupled with losses by either Northwest Rankin or Starkville next week.

“That’s pretty special,” Morgan said of getting win No. 400. “First of all, that’s a lot of wins. It’s such a storied school. We wanted our seniors to have something special, and it just so happened we were sitting on 399 wins. They’ll remember that forever.”

Starkville had beaten Warren Central in each of their last three meetings, but couldn’t ever seem to find its footing — literally or figuratively — on the sloppy turf of Viking Stadium.

After Walt Hopson had his punt downed at the 1-yard line midway through the first quarter, Starkville running back Rodrigues Clark was tackled in the end zone on the next play for a safety and the first points of the game.

Another big special teams play, a muffed punt by Starkville early in the second quarter, led to a 4-yard touchdown run by Stovall that put the Vikings ahead 9-0.

Starkville had a chance to get back in the game in the third quarter. Starting from their own 8-yard line with 5:52 left, the Yellowjackets went on a 21-play drive that extended into the fourth quarter. Warren Central’s defense finally stiffened — with the help of a fumbled snap on third down — and forced a field goal try with 10 minutes left in the game. Garin Boniol missed the 25-yard attempt wide left to keep the shutout intact.

“I don’t know if it was a backbreaker, but it was a big play in the game,” Morgan said. “The stop was, for them to just attempt the field goal, and then when he missed it it definitely gave our defense a boost getting off the field with a little bit of momentum. And then I felt like we kept the momentum the whole game and never let them get it back.”

Stovall had a lot to do with that. The bowling ball-shaped running back ripped off a 21-yard run on the next play, and then a 59-yard touchdown run on the one after that to put the Vikings ahead 16-0. Stovall broke several tackles and got a key block from quarterback F.J. Barnum to break the run that gave the Vikings some extra breathing room.

Stovall added an 18-yard touchdown run with 2:05 left in the game that made it 23-0 and put an exclamation point on the night. He only had five carries in the game, with three coming in the fourth quarter and three resulting in touchdowns.

“We knew that (Stovall) was our best in between the tackles runner. He really, really grew up tonight,” Morgan said. “We know he’s our dirty runner, if you can call it that. He made some runs tonight on a wet field that were good to see.”

As was the victory for Warren Central. It had slid from the discussion of state championship contenders after close region losses on the road at Northwest Rankin and Madison Central, and had to battle back to beat Clinton last week just to ensure a playoff berth.

Now, with a three-game winning streak and a victory over the team that had looked like the one to beat in Region 2-6A for most of the season, the Vikings emphatically stated that they’ll be one to reckon with when the playoffs start in two weeks.

“Don’t sleep on us. We’re coming,” WC defensive end Damonte Stamps said. “It feels good. Teams aren’t going to be sleeping on us like they were. They can take us how they want to take us, but we’re still going to be a Viking.”