By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

WILLOW WOOD — The Symmes Valley Vikings had to take the good with the bad.

Fortunately, there was more good than bad.

Despite a bad first half, the Vikings rebounded with a good second half and beat the Northwest Mohawks 28-17 on Friday.

The Vikings had just 84 total yards in the first half and trailed 10-0. But they rolled up 300 yards in the second half and outscored the Mohawks 28-7 to post the win.

“As poorly as we played in the first half, that’s how well we played in the second half,” said Vikings’ coach Rusty Webb. “We played well 22 of the 24 minutes in the second half.”

“This is the first time we’ve been down and we had to fight a little adversity. I was very pleased with the way our kids fought through it.”

Northwest (3-2) took a 7-0 lead on a 24-yard run by Luke Brown that capped a 65-yard, 7-play drive.

A 60-yard, 6-play drive in the second quarter ended on a 39-yard field goal by Linus Schnack.

The momentum changed quickly as D.J. Miller returned the second half kickoff 41 yards to set up a 10-play, 54-yard drive. Cody Myers ran 7 yards for the touchdown and Eli Ash kicked the conversion to make it 10-7.

After a three-and-out, the Vikings went on a 10-play, 77-yard march that ended on an 8-yard run by Alec Herrell for a 14-10 lead.

Symmes Valley (4-1) used an interception to set up a short 39-yard scoring drive. Miller scored from 16 yards out and it was 21-10.

“Our front eight took control of the defensive side in the second half and on offense everybody blocked better. Our defense kept us in the game in the first half,” said Webb. “We were able to hang in there until we got it going. All our kids did a good job with the adjustments we made at halftime.”

The Vikings finished off the scoring on a 10-yard run by Myers with 2:24 left to end a 62-yard, 6-play march.

The Mohawks used a 56-yard catch by Brown to set up a 1-yard run by Travis Sifford with 59 seconds left.

Herrell had 123 yards rushing on 13 carries as the Vikings rushed for 320 yards. Miller added 95 yards on 13 carries while Myers ran for 65 yards and threw for 64.

Northwest had 126 in the first half and finished with 219. Brown ran 17 times for 86 yards.

Northwest 7 3 0 7 = 17

Symmes Valley 0 0 14 14 = 28

First Quarter

NW – Luke Brown 24 run (Linus Schnack kick) 8:41

Second Quarter

NW – Linus Schnack 39 field goal 5:30

Third Quarter

SV – Cody Myers 7 run (Eli Ash kick) 8:04

Held 3 and out then 10-77

SV – Alec Herrell 8 run (Eli Ash kick) 1:45

Fourth Quarter

SV – D.J. Miller 16 run (Eli Ash kick) 6:51

SV – Cody Myers 10 run (Eli Ash kick) 2:24

NW – Travis Sifford 1 run (Linus Schnack kick) 0:59

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NW SV

First downs 11 18

Rushes-yards 38-118 43-320

Passing yards 101 64

Total yards 219 384

Cmp-Att-Int 6-12-2 5-11-0

Fumbles-lost 2-2 5-0

Penalties-yards 4-20 12-121

Punts-average 2-34.0 3-37.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Northwest: Luke Brown 17-86, Taylor Hamilton 7-42; Symmes Valley: Jordan Fulford 5-21, Cody Myers 13-65, D.J. Miller 10-95, Alec Herrell 13-123, Austin Owens 2-16.

PASSING–Northwest: Travis Sifford 6-12-2 101; Symmes Valley: Cody Myers 5-10-0 64, Scott Dial 0-1-0.

RECEIVING–Northwest: Micah Campbell 3-15, Luke Brown 3-86; Symmes Valley: D.J. Miller 2-31, Tyler Rowe 1-16, Austin Baldwin 1-6, Scott Dial 1-11.