WILLOW WOOD - It was time to have some fun.

After battling to a 7-6 win last week, the Symmes Valley Vikings jumped out to a big lead Friday night and then coasted to a 36-18 win over the Racine Southern Tornadoes.

"We played a lot better," Vikings coach Rusty Webb said. "We played with more enthusiasm. We were more relaxed and we just had some fun."

The fun was in the running game that generated 308 yards on just 37 attempts. Derek Carpenter had 113 yards on only five attempts and Craig Neal ran for 113 yards on six tries.

Nine different players carried the ball for the Vikings (2-0).

"The offensive line did a much better job of blocking. Derek Carpenter and Craig Neal ran the ball very hard tonight and Cory Burcham and Justin Holland blocked very well," Webb said.

Carpenter had a 4-yard scoring run less than four minutes into the game and Burcham's conversion run made it 8-0.

After a Southern punt, Neal bolted 54 yards for a touchdown and the lead was 15-0.

Burcham scored just before the half on a 10-yard run and it was 22-0.

Three incomplete passes and a punt gave the Vikings the ball back in good field position, and Neal hit Carpenter with a 9-yard touchdown pass as time expired for a 29-0 halftime lead.

Neal hooked up with Carpenter on a 35-yard pass that set up an 11-yard TD run by Neal and it was

36-0.

Butch Marnhout returned the kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown as Southern finally got on the scoreboard.

The Tornadoes got two fourth quarter scores against the Viking reserves.

Symmes Valley faces a tough test next Friday at Chesapeake.

"We still have a lot of things to work on and we have to improve, but this is a definite step in the right direction. We made mistakes, but they were going all out," Webb said.

Southern00612-18

Symmes Valley151470-36

First Quarter

SV - Derek Carpenter 4 run (Cory Burcham run) 8:37

SV - Craig Neal 54 run (Cory Burcham kick) 5:30

Second Quarter

SV - Cory Burcham 10 run (Cory Burcham kick) 1:29

SV - Derek Carpenter 9 pass from Craig Neal (Cory Burcham kick) 0:00

Third Quarter

SV - Craig Neal 11 run (Cory Burcham kick)

11:25 Neal hit Carpenter 35-yard pass set up TD

RS - Butch Marnhout 75 kickoff return (kick failed) 11:09

Fourth Quarter

RS - Wes Riffle 5 run (kick blocked) 8:25

RS - Ryan Chapman 1 run (kick failed) 4:12

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RSSV

First downs817

Rushes-yards40-4437-308

Passing yards4468

Total yards88376

Cmp-Att-Int4-7-13-7-0

Fumbles-lost2-23-3

Punts-average5-27.43-15.8

Penalties-yards4-234-54

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING-Southern: Derek Teaford 20-minus 8, Butch Marnhout 7-27; Symmes Valley: Derek Carpenter 5-113, Craig Neal 6-113, Cory Burcham 5-31, Justin Holland 6-29, Lee Callicoat 4-11, Tyler Smith 4-4, Chris Capper 3-1, Jonathan Combs 2-6, Joseph Whaley 1-0.

PASSING-Southern: Derek Teaford 4-7-1 44; Symmes Valley: Craig Neal 3-6-0 68, Chris Capper 0-1-0.

RECEIVING-Southern: Jake Neace 4-31, Chris Tucker 1-13; Symmes Valley: Derek Carpenter 2-44, Seth Saunders 1-24.