RACINE - It's what's up front that counts.

And it counted all the way to 468 Friday night as the players up front on the offensive line helped the Symmes Valley Vikings rack up nearly 500 rushing yards in a 28-6 win over the Southern Tornadoes.

"To rush for over 450 yards, you've got to have some guys up front doing an outstanding job," Vikings coach Rusty Webb said.

Opening up the holes for the Vikings were ends Kyle Meadows and Kirt Shipley, tackles Alex Burnett and Jake Bell, guards Chuck Mullins and Cody Bland and center Justin Wiseman.

Matt Owens led the ground game with 192 of the 468 yards on just 11 carries. John Wiseman had 85 yards on seven carries, Seth Saunders 66 on nine tries and Derek Carpenter also had 66 yards on 12 attempts.

"Matt Owens played exceptionally well. He ran the ball really hard. Southern was keying on Derek Carpenter which allowed John Wiseman and Owens to have good games. Seth Saunders rushed well, too," Webb said.

Although he didn't have big numbers, Webb said quarterback Chris Capper was a solid performer.

"Chris Capper did a nice job running the offense. He did a very good job of ballhandling," Webb said.

The Vikings snapped a scoreless first quarter tie when Carpenter had a 1-yard TD run with 8:16 left in the half. Meadows ran for the conversion and it was 8-0.

Southern had a long kickoff return, but Symmes Valley held at the 6-yard line. The Vikings then marched 94 yards in 11 plays capped by a 4-yard run by Carpenter. Meadows' kick made it 15-0 with 1:03 left in the half.

Symmes Valley marched 57 yards in 10 plays to start the second half. Saunders capped the drive with a 1-yard scoring run and it was 23-0.

Owens broke free on a 33-yard touchdown run on the final play of the third quarter.

Butch Marnhout had a 2-yard run for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.

The win evened the Vikings record at 1-1. They host Chesapeake next week in a backyard rivalry.

"It's good to get that first win, but we know it gets tougher next week," Webb said.

Sym. Valley015130=28

Southern0006=6

Second Quarter

SV – Derek Carpenter 1 run (Kyle Meadows run) 8:16

SV – Derek Carpenter 4 run (Kyle Meadows kick) 1:03

Third Quarter

SV –

Seth Saunders 1 run (Kyle Meadows kick) 6:30

10-57

SV – Matt Owens 33 run (kick failed) 0:00

Fourth Quarter

RS – Butch Marnhout 2 run (kick blocked) 2:52

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SVRS

First downs2614

Rushes-yards468197

Passing yards1626

Total yards484223

Cmp-Att-Int2-7-13-9-2

Fumbles-lost2-24-4

Punts-average2-30.03-26.3

Penalties-yards17-1608-84

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING-Sym. Valley: Matt Owens 11-192, John Wiseman 7-85, Seth Saunders 9-66, Derek Carpenter 12-66, Chris Capper 5-30, Tyler Smith 5-15, Robbie Miller 1-6, Lee Callicoat 1-8; Southern: Butch Marnhout 19-159, Jess McKnight 12-33.

PASSING-Sym. Valley: Chris Capper 2-7-1

16; Southern: Ryan Chapman 3-9-2

26.

RECEIVING-Sym. Valley: Derek Carpenter 2-16; Southern: Josh Pape 2-16, Ryan Donaldson 1-10.