Josh Morgan is usually energetic but measured during games. After this one, he cut loose. The Warren Central head coach ran to the postgame huddle after his team beat Lake Cormorant 24-7 in the second round of the MHSAA Class 6A playoffs on Friday, flipped his baseball cap backward, and jumped on his players’ shoulders for a victory ride that’s both rare and becoming increasingly common on Highway 27. Morgan said the celebration flowed from a mutual decision by both coaches to skip the customary postgame handshake line. The teams combined for 29 penalties in the game and chirped back and forth toward the end. “I didn’t want them to not celebrate and enjoy what the heck they’ve just been through. Just because we made a decision to try and be proactive and not shake hands, I didn’t want to slight our guys not being able to celebrate that moment,” Morgan said. “When I saw them I just gave into my gut instinct, which was I just wanted to hug them.” Warren Central (10-2) advanced to the Class 6A semifinals for the second year in a row and will host Ridgeland (11-1) on Nov. 28 at 7 p. m. Ridgeland beat Neshoba Central 55-45 in another second-round game Friday. Warren Central beat Ridgeland 21-14 when the teams played in October, and Morgan was expecting another slugfest in the rematch where the reward is a trip to the state championship game. “We have a lot of respect for them. We told them after we played that we probably could see them again,” Morgan said. “Anything can happen. We know that. We have a mature bunch and we’ll address it and have to play. We know how hard it was to win.” Lake Cormorant (9-3) was not an easy out, either. The Gators held Warren Central to 107 rushing yards its second-lowest total of the season and forced them to find points however they could. They found them through the air, with a handful of big plays. On the final play of the first quarter, after a holding penalty resulted in an untimed down, freshman receiver Doss Morgan got the ball on a reverse and launched a pass to his brother, quarterback Nash Morgan. Nash made an acrobatic catch and took it to the end zone for a 14-0 lead. Nash had also capped the Vikings’ first possession with a 4-yard TD run. “We’ve been working on it and we finally got the right time to use it. What makes it even cooler is that my brother threw it to me,” Nash Morgan said. “It was a big-time play and a big-time moment. It’s huge momentum. You saw our sideline and our fans when that play happened.” Lake Cormorant got on the board with a 23-yard TD run by Kaelan Yeager on its next possession, but another quick strike restored the Vikings’ two-score lead. After a short punt and 17-yard return by Blake Caruthers gave the Vikings an instant red zone opportunity, Nash Morgan threw a jump ball to Michael Hall in the front right corner of the end zone. Hall got position on his defender and the ball for an 18-yard touchdown that made it 21-7 with 2: 05 left in the second quarter. Nash Morgan finished 13-of-19 passing for 111 yards and the one touchdown, ran for 53 yards and a TD, and caught the 43-yard TD pass. “We knew points were going to be at a premium. That’s why we were taking shots and throwing. We knew that we had to take shots to go win. We trusted our guys to do that,” Josh Morgan said.
https://www.vicksburgpost.com/sports/warren-central-beats-lake-cormorant-to-return-to-class-6a-semifinals-5876afe7
Warren Central beats Lake Cormorant to return to Class 6A semifinals
