FRANKLIN FURNACE – The Green Bobcats finally enjoyed a special night.

James McGuire returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown to propel Green to a 54-30 win over the Symmes Valley Vikings Friday in a Southern Ohio Conference game.

“We got off to a good start. That was our first special teams touchdown of the season, so that was big for us,” Green coach Kevin Sheridan said.

Another play by the special teams set up the second Green touchdown only moments later.

The Vikings fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Green recoverd. A 29-yard pass from Matt Clark to Corey Dyer set p a 3-yard touchdown run by McGuire and it was 12-0.

The Vikings had six turnovers to give them 15 over the last three games.

“You can’t turn the ball over like that and expect to win. We knew they had a nice running game and they did a nice job,” Vikings coach Rusty Webb said.

The Bobcats running game produce 291 yards. McGuire ran 25 times for 135 yards and Jon Butler had 97 yards on 15 carries.

“We did a good job running the ball. We had an 83-yard run called back. We did a good job up front,” Sheridan said. “We had good balance in the backfield and Matt Clark threw the ball well.”

Clark was 8 of 10 for 125 yards and two touchdowns.

Chuck Mullins, a converted guard, led the Vikings with 157 yards on 18 attempts and two touchdowns. Chris Capper ran nine times for 55 yards and two scores.

“We had some people hurt and we’re just young and they’re pretty fast. We had chances early,” Webb said.

Butler had a 28-yard scoring run with 2:40 left in the quarter and the Clark-to-Dyer conversion pass put the lead at 20-0.

McGuire had touchdown runs of 11 and 12 yards in the second quarter to put Green up 35-0.

The Vikings got on the scoreboard when Mullins ran 1-yard with just 2:02 left in the half.

But an 11-yard scoring pass from Clark to Butler with only 12 seconds on the clock extended the lead to 41-6.

Despite the deficit, the Vikings refused to quit.

“Our kids could have easily packed it in at halftime. But we should some determination. We just need to do that for an entire game,” Webb said.

“We came out and scored two and cut the lead to 41-22 and then got them in a third-and-11. We played well in spurts.”

Symmes Valley got two touchdowns in the third quarter on a 7-yard run by Mullins and a 12-yard scamper by Capper. Mullins ran for the conversion each time.

But Green put the game away on a 7-yard TD run by McGuire and a 29-yard pass from Clark to Josh Rhea.

Capper ended the scoring on a 21-yard run with 4:20 to play.

Wes Bailey and Butler had interceptions for the Bobcats.

Symmes Valley06168=30

Green2021013=54

First Quarter

Gr – James McGuire 85 kickoff return (run failed) 11:45

Gr – James McGuire 3 run (Corey Dyer 29 pass from Matt Clark set up TD) (run failed) 11:05

Gr – Jon Butler 28 run (Corey Dyer pass from Matt Clark) 2:40

Second Quarter

Gr – James McGuire 11 run (Jon Butler run) 5:00

Gr – James McGuire 12 run (Jon Butler kick) 3:11

SV – Chuck Mullins 1 run (pass failed) 2:02

Gr – Jon Butler 11 pass from Matt Clark (kick failed) 0:12

Third Quarter

SV – Chuck Mullins 7 run (Mullins run) 8:35

SV – Chris Capper 12 run (Mullins run) 2:12

Fourth Quarter

Gr – James McGuire 7 run (kick failed) 10:01

Gr – Josh Rhea 29 pass from Matt Clark (Jon Butler kick) 7:26

SV – Chris Capper 21 run (Capper run) 4:20

SVGr

First downs2221

Rushes-yards294291

Passing yards67125

Total yards361416

Cmp-Att-Int5-17-28-10-0

Fumbles-lost4-40-0

Penalties-yards3-156-40

Punts-average0-00.02-25.5

Individual Leaders

RUSHING-Symmes Valley: Chuck Mullins 18-157, Kirt Shipley 8-32, Chris Capper 9-55, Tyler Dickess 5-17, Cody Thompson 1-18, Brandon Freeman 4-14; Green: James McGuire 25-135, Jon Butler 15-97, Josh Rhea 1-19, Billy Moore 6-45, Caleb Lewis 1-2.

PASSING-Symmes Valley: Chris Capper 5-17-2 67; Green: Matt Clark 8-10-0 125.

RECEIVING-Symmes Valley: Kirt Shipley 3-38, Cody Bland 2-29; Green: Corey Dyer 5-66, Jon Butler 2-35, Josh Rhea 1-27.