Jim Mashek

(Editor’s note: This series offers a quick look at high school football teams in South Central Kentucky. It will resume after I return from SEC Media Days in Nashville later this week.)

THERE’s NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT ON MORGANTOWN ROAD

It was a long, arduous process, to be sure.

Warren Central High School struggled through six seasons of football without a single victory. Coaches came and went. The streak lingered, from one season to another, and in Mark Nelson’s first year on Morgantown Road, the Dragons nearly broke through on two or three occasions.

But it didn’t happen.

Warren Central took care of that little detail on Opening Night in 2022. The Dragons took a two-hour bus ride to Shepherdsville, Kentucky for their first game of the season against Bullitt Central High School.

There were catcalls from the stands. The Cougars’ players were ready to extend Warren Central’s losing streak to 62 games. But Warren Central was clearly poised to change the narrative.

The Dragons mauled Bullitt Central on that unusually cool August night, winning 13-0 to earn their first victory since 2015. After a couple losses, both on the road, Warren Central found the resolve to knock off traditionally strong Allen County-Scottsville, 30-22, before playing host to Russell County in their first home game of the 2022 season.

In late September.

Warren Central would win that one, too, by a comfortable margin. Then, in mid-October, the Dragons took another two-hour bus ride, to Draffenville, Kentucky, to tangle with Class 6A Marshall County.

The Dragons had 40, maybe 42 players in the entire program that night. Numbers have been an issue for years. But they handled Marshall County on both sides of the line of scrimmage, winning 36-21 on their way to a .500 record in regular-season play.

Warren Central finished the season 5-6. Madisonville-North Hopkins eliminated the Dragons in first-round play of the KHSAA Class 4A playoffs, taking a 39-12 victory in Madisonville. Because of a scheduling quirks, Nelson’s squad had just three home games last year.

They’ll have five of them this season.

And it’s full speed ahead at Warren Central. The Dragons will open the season against Logan County in the second game of the Lewisburg Bank Bowl on August 18, on the Cougars’ home field in Russellville.

“We’re trying to prove last year wasn’t a fluke,” Warren Central linebacker/fullback Yzir Gray said after a non-contact practice last week at Joe Hood Field. “We’ve gone through the losses … but our team chemistry is really good.

“Everybody is working hard in practice.”

Mark Nelson, in the twilight of his coaching career, made no promises when he replaced Cary Fowler after a COVID-abbreviated, 0-7 season in 2020. But he’s embraced the challenge at Warren Central, and he’s put the Dragons back on the road to respectability.

The question now, of course, is whether Warren Central can take the next step. The Dragons moved up two classifications, to Class 6A, in the 2nd District, against the likes of Barren County, North Hardin and Central Hardin.

“I’m excited, about this group of seniors,” Nelson said. “They’re the leaders of this team. They’ve gone to work … Playing in 6A is going to be a challenge, but we’ve done it before, at Greenwood …”

Nelson said Warren Central plans to play an eight-game junior varsity schedule. He’s still working on the program’s numbers, although it starts at the middle school level. Warren Central running back/defensive back KeioVon Wells admits it’s still a bit of an uphill climb, but he believes the Dragons have the will to make more progress over the next three or four months.

“We’ve got to deal with what we’ve got,” Wells said. “We’ve got to be in better physical condition than our opponent.”

The Dragons lost quarterback A.J. Jean Aime and playmakers such as Omari Glover and K.J. Jean Aime to graduation. Junior Zarionte Howard and sophomore Dominique Anthony are competing for the starting role at quarterback, and the Dragons have an experienced fullback in senior Devontre Patterson.

Warren Central has two returning starters on the offensive line, seniors Ladarius Edwards and Zakk Likens. James Miller, a junior, has shown promise at offensive tackle. Dakota Hunter, a sophomore, is a player to watch at tight end.

Defensively, Nelson will be counting on senior linebackers Yzir Gray and Blake Harrison, but Harrison will be the first guy to tell you that most of the Dragons’ players will be used on both offense and defense.

“Now that we’ve won some games,” Harrison said, “we haven’t had to think about (the 61-game losing streak). Haven’t had to talk about it.”

For Mark Nelson and the Dragons, there’s no time like the present.