Vikings end difficult football season with loss to Northwest Rankin – The Vicksburg Post

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Warren Central’s Colby Solomon (8) follows through after kicking the ball as Northwest Rankins’ Tyler Hornk defends during Tuesday’s game at Flowood. Northwest Rankin beat Warren Central 5–0 in the Vikings season finale. (Ernest Bowker/Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central’s Villame Nellig handles the soccer ball against Northwest Rankine on Tuesday. (Ernest Bowker/Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central defender Charlie Esparza, 13, will challenge Northwest Rankin’s Miles Williams, 27, during Tuesday’s game at Flowood. (Ernest Bowker/Vicksburg Post)

FLOWOOD — The final moments of Warren Central’s men’s football season included a hard foul, three yellow cards and a penalty kick save.

That it all happened with a lopsided loss meant nothing but pride and helped show the grit and never quitting attitude these Vikings displayed to the end.

Landon Campbell had a goal and an assist, while four other players scored as Northwest Rankin beat Warren Central 5-0 on Tuesday. Warren Central finished with his 3-12 record, and although a loss in the previous game kept him out of playoff contention, Northwest Rankin headed into the postseason as the MHSAA Region 5-6A champions. I played hard until the end against .

“They’ve been through a lot of adversity and I’m proud of them,” said Warren Central head coach Greg. “We had to go through what we went through. The team has never been, we lost all the players we lost and then the flu hit…it was tough. did not.”

Head won 209 in 15 seasons as a coach at Warren Central, his worst record in that period.

The Vikings lost seven seniors by graduation and three offensive threats before the season began. Two players have been transferred and one of his has been ruled ineligible due to paperwork issues.

What remained was a lineup that included as many freshmen as seniors (four each) and many sophomores playing the national team for the first time. A mid-season switch to a defensive style helped the Vikings stay competitive, but it was difficult to win games without a lot of scoring prowess.

Warren Central scored 14 goals in the first two games of the season, and seven since. He was shut out eight times.

“You know that old country song, ‘If I hadn’t had bad luck, I’d have had no luck’?” But these kids never quit. they never stopped. They worked hard every day,” said Head. “You can only get this far in a year. It’s a building process.

One hope Head has is that the chunks the Vikings have taken this season will pay off in the future.With so many young players in the lineup, there’s plenty of room for growth and development.

“Maybe next year we’ll be a little bit better, and the year after that I think we’ll be really good. We have to work on defense,” Head said.

Warren Central lost 1-0 to Northwest Rankin (15-4-1, 5-0 Region 5-6A) in December, but Tuesday’s season finale was not so close.

Goals from Jay Hart in the eighth minute and Christian Baglione in the 20th gave Northwest Rankin a 2-0 half-time lead.
Duncan Thortis, Campbell and Jeffrey Ross added goals for the Cougars in the second half.

“There’s no room for mistakes against this team. When you make a mistake against a good team, they try to take advantage of it — and they did,” Head said. They’re not used to playing , and they’re trying to do it too fast.They’re thinking too fast and they’re thinking wrong.”

A wild final sequence brought a memorable end to the night and season. Colby Solomon received his card yellow for a hard foul in the box and North West Rankin was awarded his kick as a penalty. Goalkeeper Conor Scribner and Heads also received yellow cards for arguing the call.

Both players were sent off for the card, and senior defender Jesse Hallberg was forced to wear red piney and scribner keeper gloves to defend the penalty kick. The shot went high, hit the crossbar, and the referee blew his whistle seconds later, ending the Vikings’ season on a strange high note.

“I’m disappointed tonight because I played hard,” Head said. “Looking back against Pearl on Friday, I think it was a little overkill to play so close. Our legs just couldn’t handle it.”

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is the sports editor for The Vicksburg Post. He has been a member of the Vicksburg Post’s sports staff since his 1998 and is one of the longest-serving reporters in the paper’s 139-year history. Originally from New Jersey, he graduated from LSU. During his career, he has received more than 50 awards from his association in the Mississippi Press and his AP, recognized for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

Ernest