WILLOW WOOD — There are three phases to a football game: offense, defense and special teams.

Friday night, the Symmes Valley Vikings “phased” out the Sciotoville East Tartans with all three as they took a 27-6 Southern Ohio Conference win.

“The kicking game was a big factor. When we punted, we were able to pin them deep and out punt team did an excellent job of coverage,” said Vikings’ coach Rusty Webb.

“Our defense kept them there and our offense took advantage. We didn’t have to have any long drives. We played well in all three phases.”

The Vikings’ defense held the East twin brother tandem of Jon and Jordan Garrett in check.

Jon Garrett had minus 11 yards rushing and was 1-of-9 passing. Jordan Garrett was held to 51 yards rushing and had a 25-yard run against the second team.

“Those were the two key guys and we did a good job on two exceptional backs,” said Webb. “East is a very quick team and our kids rose to the challenge.”

The win enabled the Vikings to improve to 6-1 on the season and 2-0 in the SOC Division I, thus setting up a showdown at Oak Hill next Friday for first place in the conference.

Oak Hill is 7-0 and 2-0 in the SOC.

The Vikings had 193 total yards even though they played on a short field due to the kicking game. The defense held East to a mere 84 total yards.

“The defense played well again tonight. We played a fast quick team and kept them bottled up. Our kids played very, very well tonight,” said Webb.

Evan Herrell had a nice punt return late in the first quarter to set up his own 4-yard scoring run as the Vikings took a 6-0 lead.

A Symmes Valley punt pinned East deep in its territory and the defense held producing another short field. The Vikings took advantage as Tyler Easthom scored on a 2-yard run and it was 14-0 with 7:08 left in the half after Cody Myers passed to Hunter Boggs for the conversion.

East was backed up inside its own 10-yard line in the third quarter when Jon Garrett boomed a 52-yard punt. But the Vikings took seven plays to score as Easthom ran 8 yards for the touchdown and it was 21-0.

The Tartans tried a fake punt in the fourth quarter but the Vikings weren’t fooled and made the stop at the 15-yard line. Two plays later Easthom scored on an 8-yard run and it was 27-0 with 5:43 to play.

East (3-4, 0-2) avoided the shutout as Jordan Garrett scored on a 25-yard run with 1:28 to play.

Kyle Bowen ran seven times for 47 yards and Payne had 44 yards on 12 carries to lead Symmes Valley.

Sciotoville East 0 0 0 6 = 6

Symmes Valley 6 8 7 6 = 27

First Quarter

SV — Evan Herrell 4 run (kick failed) 0:49

Second Quarter

SV — Tyler Easthon 2 run (Hunter Boggs pass from Cody Myers) 7:08

Third Quarter

SV — Justin Payne 6 run (kick failed) 2:01

Fourth Quarter

SV — Tyler Easthon 8 run (kick failed) 5:43

SE — Jordan Garrett 25 run (pass failed) 1:28

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SE SV

First downs 7 14

Rushes-yards 35-74 48-170

Passing yards 10 23

Total yards 84 193

Cmp-Att-Int 1-9-0 2-3-0

Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0

Penalties-yards 7-42 2-15

Punts-average 4-30.0 4-34.5

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Sciotoville East: Jordan Garrett 9-51, Jon Garrett 8-minus 11. Symmes Valley: Kyle Bowen 7-47, Evan Herrell 8-17, Justin Payne 12-44, Cody Myers 10-17, Tyler Easthom 9-33, Jacob Patterson 2-12.

PASSING—Sciotoville East: Jon Garrett 1-9-0 10. Symmes Valley: Cody Myers 2-3-0 23.

RECEIVING—Sciotoville East: Nathan Bradford 1-10. Symmes Valley: Tyler Easton 2-23.