How Warren Central's football team ended its 61-game losing streak Friday
When his players spent part of January doing passing drills in 14-degree weather, Warren Central High School football coach Mark Nelson knew good things were on the horizon for his program.
On Friday, the Dragons “got that monkey off our backs.”
Senior quarterback Kayumba Jean-Aime rushed for two touchdowns to lead Warren Central to a 13-0 victory at Bullitt Central on Friday, ending the state’s longest losing streak.
Warren Central had lost 61 straight games dating to a 23-12 victory over Warren East on Oct. 16, 2015.
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“The bus ride home at the beginning was a little wild,” Nelson said Saturday morning. “They were all cheering and having fun, which they deserved. All of a sudden, it got real quiet. I think they were wore out. They played such a hard game.”
The victory was the first step back for a proud program that was the Class 4A runner-up to Trinity in 1989 and 1990. Warren Central running back Damon Hood was Kentucky’s Mr. Football in 1990.
But the dynamics in Warren County have changed in the three-plus decades since then. Greenwood High School opened in 1990, and South Warren became the county’s fifth public high school in 2010.
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While Warren Central’s boys basketball program has prospered — the Dragons were state champions in 2004 and state runners-up last season — the football program has struggled.
Nelson took over the program last season and said only 16 players dressed for a couple of games. Now there are 44 players on the roster.
“You could see a culture change starting to take place,” said Nelson, who also has been a head coach at Greenwood and South Warren. “When the coaches tell them what they need to do, they do it. … There’s a lot of talent here. When we go 7-on-7, our skill is pretty good. We’ve developed a Wing-T offense, and the kids have bought into the rules of that. And our offensive line did pretty well (Friday).”
Warren Central plays in Class 4A, District Two with Allen County-Scottsville, Franklin-Simpson, Russell County and Warren East and would need to beat at least one of them during the regular season to qualify for the playoffs.
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But Nelson wasn’t thinking that far ahead Saturday morning.
“Every time those kids played, they were thinking about the streak and the number of years,” Nelson said. “But it’s over now. It’s about time for me to stop congratulating them and start thinking about Game 2.”
The Dragons will play at Trigg County next Friday.
Warren Central wasn’t the only Kentucky team to snap a long losing streak Friday. Lynn Camp beat Jellico (Tenn.) 20-14 to end its 18-game skid.
Fairview now has the state’s longest losing streak at 14 games after falling to Bath County 22-16 on Friday.
Jenkins has lost 43 straight games but is not fielding a team this year.
Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KHSAA football: Warren Central ends state-long 61-game losing streak
