WILLOW WOOD— Lady Luck must have something against the Symmes Valley Vikings.

The Vikings were on the verge of a major upset in the Southern Ohio Conference Division I, but the Portsmouth Notre Dame Titans scored in the final seconds to escape with a 13-9 win Saturday.

Notre Dame (6-3, 3-0) got the winning touchdown with 11 seconds to play when Trey LaValley hit Alex Davis with a 15-yard scoring pass on a fourth-and-5 play.

“We controlled 31 minutes of the clock. We out-played them,” said Vikings coach Rusty Webb. “You don’t like to lose, but we played our best game since the first two weeks. We just have to learn to finish.”

The first half appeared to go scoreless when Kyle Bowen intercepted a pass with 42 seconds left. Chris Capper hit Evan Herrell with a 33-yard pass on the next play and then Capper scored from 3 yards out with just two seconds on the clock.

The conversion kick was blocked and it was 6-0 with two seconds left.

The Titans scored on the first play of the second half when Aaron Williams shook free on a 67-yard touchdown run. LaValley kicked the extra point and the Titans were up 7-6.

Symmes Valley (2-7, 1-3) had a chance to take the lead but a 38-yard field goal attempt by Cody Bland hit the upright.

In the fourth quarter, Symmes Valley took 9-7 lead on a 36-yard field goal by Bland following a blocked punt by Capper.

Also in the quarter, the Vikings had a 22-yard touchdown called back by Bowen and then missed a field goal attempt with 4:40 to play.

“Our kids played hard. Our kids left it on the field. Our seniors played extremely well and our freshmen came up big,” said Webb.

Bowen ran 14 times for 88 yards as the Vikings had 176 yards rushing.

Notre Dame0076=13

Symmes Valley0603=9

Second Quarter

SV — Chris Capper 3 run (kick blocked) 0:02

Third Quarter

PND — Aaron Williams 67 run (Trey LaValley kick) 11:40

Fourth Quarter

SV — Cody Bland 36 field goal 9:27

PND — Alex Davis 15 pass from LaValley (kick failed) 0:11

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PNDSV

First downs129

Rushes-yards34-16049-176

Passing yards8833

Total yards248209

Cmp-Att-Int6-9-11-4-1

Fumbles-lost2-21-1

Penalties-yards10-695-35

Punts-average3-2572-32.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Notre Dame: Aaron Williams 5-90, Joel Williams 9-39, Craig Williams 9-38. Symmes Valley: Gage Patterson 4-6, Kyle Bowen 14-88, Hunter Boggs 15-45, Jacob Patterson 1-2, Chris Capper 11-33, Evan Herrell 1-0, Jesse Graybeal 3-2.

PASSING—Notre Dame: Trey LaValley 6-9-1 88. Symmes Valley: Chris Capper 1-4-1 33.

RECEIVING—Notre Dame: Alex Davis 4-57, Thad Bowman 1-24. Symmes Valley: Evan Herrell 1-33.