Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

OAK HILL — Missed tackles on fourth down led to a missed opportunity to take the lead in the Southern Ohio Conference race.

The Symmes Valley Vikings gave up some key plays on fourth down as they lost 26-7 to the Oak Hill Oaks Friday in a battle for first place in the SOC I race.

Oak Hill is now 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the SOC. The Vikings dropped to 5-3 and 2-1.

“We gave up some big plays on fourth down and you can’t do that against good teams. They made a few more plays than we did,” said Vikings’ coach Rusty Webb.

“We’ve had three losses this year where we haven’t finished and gave up some points that have come back to hurt us. I can’t fault our effort. Our kids played hard.”

On their first series, the Vikings got to the 48-yard line only to fumble the ball away.

The Oaks moved the ball to the Vikings’ 19 where Garrin Stiltner hit Jordon Fisher with a scoring pass on a fourth-and-12 play at it was 6-0.

The Vikings rebounded with a 63-yard, 14-play drive capped by Tyler Rowe’s 1-yard scoring run. The Vikings threw only one pass in the drive but it was a 30-yarder from Payton Hayes to Brandon Craft to put the ball at the 5-yard line.

Tanner Mays kicked the conversion and Symmes Valley led 7-6 with 10:35 left in the half.

Oak Hill answered with a quick 54-yard, 4-play drive capped by Stiltner’s 2-yard run. Stiltner ran for the conversion and it was 14-7 with 9:02 left in the half.

The Oaks opened up a 20-7 halftime lead with a 78-yard, 12-play drive with all but 28 of the yards coming on the ground. Stiltner and Fisher hooked up on an 18-yard scoring pass with just 18 seconds on the clock.

The lead went to 26-7 with 4:42 left in the third quarter when Willy Harris got loose on a 53-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-1 play

Rowe had 42 yards and Mays 41 yards as the Vikings finished with 157 yards rushing. They had 187 total yards.

Stiltner finished the game with 83 yards rushing and was 4-of-15 passing for 61 yards and two touchdowns.

Harris ran eight times for 81 yards and Chris Coy had 68 yards on nine attempts as the Oaks finished with 299 total yards including 238 on the round.

Symmes Valley 0 7 0 0 = 7

Oak Hill 6 14 6 0 = 26

First Quarter

OH — Jordon Fisher 19 pass from Garrin Stiltner (pass failed) 6:15

Second Quarter

SV — Tyler Rowe 1 run (Tanner Mays kick) 10:35

OH — Garrin Stiltner 2 run (Stiltner run) 9:02

OH — Jordon Fisher 18 pass from Garrin Stiltner (pass failed) 0:18

Third Quarter

OH — Willy Harris 53 run (conversion failed) 4:42

—————

SV OH

First downs 11 14

Rushes-yards 49-157 37-238

Passing yards 30 61

Total yards 187 299

Cmp-Att-Int 1-5-0 4-15-0

Penalties-yards 2-20 7-33

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Punts-average 4-30.5 3-26.0

—————

Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Symmes Valley: Tyler Rowe 16-42, Tanner Mays 10-41, Payton Hayes 13-35, Brandon Craft 3-6, Collin Webb 7-33. Oak Hill: Willy Harris 8-81, Garrin Stiltner 14-83, Chris Coy 9-68.

PASSING—Symmes Valley: Payton Hayes 1-5-0 30. Oak Hill: Garrin Stiltner 4-15-0 61 2TD.

RECEIVING—Symmes Valley: Brandon Craft 1-30. Oak Hill: Jordon Fisher 3-47, Chase Burdine 1-14.