Eric Collins Jr. led Warren Central’s football team to its first win of the season, and put another ‘W’ in the books as the first Vicksburg Post Athlete of the Week of the 2023-24 sports year.

Collins received 539 of the 1,807 votes cast in an online poll by The Post’s readers to claim the award.

Collins narrowly edged out St. Aloysius softball player Ruthie Britton, who had 524 votes. Porter’s Chapel Academy football player Thomas Azlin was third, with 392 votes, and Vicksburg High volleyball player Makynzie Dunmore fourth with 352.

Collins, a junior running back for the Vikings, rushed 15 times for 87 yards and two touchdowns, and caught one pass for 19 yards, in a 28-7 victory over Clinton in the Red Carpet Bowl on Aug. 25. His touchdowns covered 36 and 17 yards.

Congratulations to Eric and the other nominees, and thank you to our readers for voting. The 1,807 total votes cast are the most since the Athlete of the Week contest started in September 2022.

The nominees for the Athlete of the Week award are announced each Sunday, and voting is open until midnight Tuesday.

Links to the poll will be posted on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, as well as vicksburgpost.com.