CHESAPEAKE - It was a familiar situation. The Chesapeake Panthers were 0-2 and playing the Symmes Valley Vikings.

It proved to be similar results.

For the third straight season, Chesapeake ended an 0-2 start with a win over the Vikings as the Panthers blanked Symmes Valley 6-0 Friday.

"I don't know what it is. They just seem to have our number," Vikings coach Rusty Webb said.

Although Ohio Valley Conference play has yet to begin, the Panthers needed a win if they entertained any hopes of making the postseason playoffs. Another loss would have been crippling.

"Our backs were against the wall. Really, they still are," Panthers coach Phil Davis said.

The key to the win was the Panthers defense. Chesapeake limited the Vikings to 190 total yards in pitching the shutout.

"We had one real breakdown on a pass play and we let the quarterback get loose on one play, and that was it," Davis said.

"As far as being in the right place, that was as good as we've done in a while. They do a lot of things and they've been pretty successful. Their quarterback does a nice job."

Dustin O'Brien not only scored the game's only touchdown, but he helped set up the score with an interception that he returned to the Panthers 47-yard line.

O'Brien caught a 25-yard pass from Caleb McComas that got the ball to the Vikings 25. Three plays later, Chesapeake got to the 8-yard line but ended up facing a fourth down play.

With the pressure on, McComas went back to pass and hit O'Brien at the 7:35 mark of the second quarter. The conversion run failed and it was 6-0.

"Dustin made two great plays. The interception he almost ran back and he made a fantastic catch on the touchdown. They were stuffing us in the box, so we felt we had to throw the ball. Dustin's athletic ability made the difference," Davis said.

McComas finished the game 4 of 12 for 84 yards and an interception. O'Brien caught two passes for 33 yards.

The Panthers running game gained 130 yards for 214 total yards in the defensive struggle. Jackson Caynor ran 12 times for 58 yards.

Symmes Valley (2-1) was led by quarterback Craig Neal who ran 14 times for 70 yards and completed 2 of 7 passes for 47 yards. Cory Burcham added 47 yards on 14 attempts.

"Symmes Valley played pretty well, but our defense pretty much shut them down. (Assistant) coach (Larry) Morgan had a good scheme," Davis said.

Webb said the Vikings were partly responsible for their inability to score, but for the most part he blamed himself.

"We had some chances, we just didn't execute and as the coach I take responsibility for that,"

Webb said. "We need to go back to work on the fundamentals. Coach Davis and his staff have a fine program. They executed better tonight than we did."

One the Symmes Valley chances was late in the game with the Vikings driving. Starting at their own 25, the Vikings moved near midfield when a fourth-and-10 halfback pass was intercepted once again by O'Brien.

"Our defense played outstanding, we just have to be more consistent on offense," Webb said.

Sym. Valley0000-0

Chesapeake0000-6

Second Quarter

Ch - Dustin O'Brien 8 pass from Caleb McComas (run failed) 7:35

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SVCh

First downs1211

Rushes-yards143130

Passing yards4784

Total yards190214

Cmp-Att-Int2-9-24-12-1

Fumbles-lost0-00-0

Penalties-yards4-356-41

Punts-average8-22.05-39.6

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING-Sym. Valley: Craig Neal 14-70, Cory Burcham 14-47, Justin Holland 6-24, Derek Carpenter 4-8; Chesapeake: Jackson Caynor 12-58, Keith Marcum 9-26, Caleb McComas 10-1, Kersten Harris 8-21, Mark Roby 4-24.

PASSING-Sym. Craig Neal 2-9-2 47; Chesapeake: Caleb McComas 4-12-1

84.

RECEIVING-Sym. Valley: Derrek Cremeans 1-34, Derek Carpenter 1-13; Chesapeake: Dustin O'Brien 2-33, Jeff Thornburg 1-44, Jackson Caynor 1-7.