Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

SCIOTOVILLE — Symmes Valley has a big showdown with the Oak Hill Oaks next week. But the Vikings were careful to take care of this week’s game first.

D.J. Miller ran seven times for 115 yards and also returned a kickoff for a score. Alec Herrell had 85 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Vikings to a 56-14 rout of the Sciotoville East Tartans in a Southern Ohio Conference game on Friday.

Symmes Valley is now 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the SOC. They host the Oaks (6-1, 2-0) next week in what should determine the league championship.

“The kids did a good job keeping their focus and their intensity even after getting the big lead in the first half. We came out the second half and picked up where we left off,” said Vikings’ coach Rusty Webb.

The Vikings rushed for 474 yards as a team and Tyler Rowe hit 4 of 5 passes for 74 yards including a 37-yard TD strike to Herrell.

Herrell also returned a punt 76 yards for a score.

The defense limited East to 181 total yards and quarterback Justin Crager managed only 37 yards rushing on 15 attempts and he was 4 of 13 passing for 71 yards.

“We played well in all three phases of the game. The defense is getting better each week, special teams are getting better, and the offensive line had another outstanding game. I can’t brag on them enough,” said Webb.

“I thought our backs blocked well for each other. (Dustin) Holbrook and (Austin) Owens did a good job blocking at the fullback spots.”

Austin Baldwin and Jacob Greybeal combined to block a punt and Kyle Vallance returned it to the 36-yard line to set up the Vikings’ first score.

Rowe did the honors with a 15-yard run and Tyler Ferguson kick the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

After recovering a fumble, Rowe hooked up with Herrell on a 37-yard pass for a score. Rowe threw to Baldwin for the conversion and a 15-0 lead with 1:29 on the block.

The Vikings held East on downs and Herrell returned the punt 76 yards for a score with 15 seconds left and it was 22-0.

Symmes Valley scored twice in the second quarter to lead 35-0 at the half. Rowe scored on a 1-yard run and Herrell scooted 12 yards for the second score with 3:53 left in the half.

The Vikings showed their focus by taking the second half kickoff and driving 69 yards in nine plays with Herrell going the final 22 yards and a 42-0 lead.

East (3-4, 0-2) got on the board when Jeremy Toller ran 5 yards for a touchdown with 7:19 left to play.

But the Vikings countered on a 3-yard scoring run by Brandon Craft and Quinton Bare’s conversion run to make it 50-7 with 2:11 left.

After a long kickoff return, East scored on a 28-yard run by Chad Haddix and it was 50-14 with 1:37 left.

But Miller returned the ensuring kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown to set the final score.

Symmes Valley 22 13 7 14 = 56

Sciotoville East 0 0 0 14 = 14

First Quarter

SV — Tyler Rowe 15 run (Tyler Ferguson kick) 7:19

SV — Alec Herrell 37 pass from Tyler Rowe (Austin Baldwin pass from Tyler Rowe) 1:29

SV — Alec Herrell 76 punt return (Tyler Ferguson kick) 0:15

Second Quarter

SV — Tyler Rowe 1 run (Tyler Ferguson kick) 10:13

SV — Alec Herrell 13 run (kick failed) 3:53

Third Quarter

SV — Alec Herrell 22 run (Trey Ferguson kick) 7:10

Fourth Quarter

SE — Jeremy Toller 5 run (run failed) 7:19

SV — Brandon Craft 3 run (Quinton Bare run) 2:11

SE — Chad Haddix 28 run (Josh Guido run) 1:37

SV — D.J. Miller 96 kickoff return (run failed)

Team Statistics

SV SE

First downs 20 9

Rushes-yards 47-474 38-110

Yards passing 74 71

Total yards 558 181

Cmp-Att-Int 4-5-0 4-13-0

Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-1

Penalties-yards 5-42 2-18

Punts-average 0-00.0 5-29.2

Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Symmes Valley: Alec Herrell 11-85, D.J. Miller 7-115, Dustin Holbrook 5-38, Tyler Rowe 5-31, Austin Owens 3-55, Tanner Mays 2-59, Quinton Bare 5-44, Kyle Vallance 1-3, Brandon Craft 4-38, Trent Thompson 1-0, Cameron Meadows 3-6; Sciotoville East: Justin Crager 15-37, Chad Haddix 10-36, Jeremy Toller 6-29.

PASSING—Symmes Valley: Tyler Rowe 4-5-0 74; Sciotoville East: Justin Crager 4-13-0 71.

RECEIVING—Symmes Valley: Alec Herrell 1-36, Austin Baldwin 1-3, Tanner Mays 1-27, D.J. Miller 1-8; Sciotoville East: Tyler Bradford 2-50, Michael Stiltner 1-17, Chad Haddis 1-5.