Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

WILLOW WOOD — Ball hogs.

The Symmes Valley Vikings used a ball-control running game to stymie the Sciotiville East Tartans 27-8 Friday in a key Southern Ohio Conference game.

The Vikings kept their hopes alive of sharing the SOC title but even more importantly got a big win toward computer points as they look to qualify for the Division VII Region 25 playoffs.

The Vikings ran the ball 59 times for 364 yards and racked up 28 first downs as they improved to 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the SOC.

“That was a quality win over a quality opponent,” said Vikings’ head coach Rusty Webb.

“Any time you run the ball that many times for that many yards, you’re getting good blocking up front and you’re executing well. We did that and our backs ran hard and blocked well for each other.”

The Vikings converted 8-of-12 third down situations and also converted one fourth down for an extra set of downs as they chewed up 31 minutes of the game’s 48 minutes.

Collin Webb led the ground game with 162 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns. Derrek Smith had 91 yards on 19 tries and was 2-of-3 passing for 19 yards while Brandon Craft added 39 yards on 10 attempts and a score.

Akia Brown ran 24 times for 110 yards and a score for East (5-4, 2-3).

“We made adjustments with Brown at quarterback and the kids did a super job. Our kids have handled the adjustments well all year,” said coach Webb.

The Tartans were limited to 132 total yards — just 10 passing. East was just 2-of-12 passing with an interception.

“Our front eight on defense played really well. Our secondary did a nice job when they had to throw and we forced (Brown) to scramble a lot. East has done a great job throwing the ball this year,” said coach Webb.

The Vikings took the opening kickoff and went 57 yards in just three plays as Webb ran 3 yards for the score and a 6-0 lead.

After East went 3-and-out, the Vikings went 57 yards in 13 plays before Blake Bowen kicked a 38-yard field goal and it was 9-0.

“Our special teams have done well in the past few weeks in all phases of the game,” said coach Webb.

East then went 66 yards in 13 plays capped by Brown’s 9-yard keeper with 10:55 left in the half, but the Vikings answered with a time-consuming 90-yard, 14-play march that ended at the 2:23 mark on a 4-yard run by Webb and it was 15-8.

The Vikings also had a 67-yard, 14-play drive that stalled and resulted in a missed field goal.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Vikings drove 59 yards on 11 plays with Craft running 3 yards for the touchdown with 4:13 to go.

The Tartans went to the air but Webb came up with an interception and the Vikings marched 45 yards in seven plays with Payton Hayes running it in from 7 yards out.

The key play in the drive was a 14-yard pass from Smith to Curtis Lybrand.

The Vikings now close the season with a big game against Northwest next Friday.

Sciotoville East 0 8 0 0 = 8

Symmes Valley 9 6 0 12 = 27

First Quarter

SV — Collin Webb 3 run (kick failed) 11:04

SV — Blake Bowen 28 field goal 3:02

Second Quarter

SE — Akia Brown 9 run (Brown run) 10:05

SV — Collin Webb 4 run (kick failed) 2:23

Fourth Quarter

SV — Brandon Craft 3 run (kick failed) 4:13

SV — Payton Hayes 7 run (kick failed) 0:24

——

SE SV

First downs 10 28

Rushes-yards 32-122 59-364

Passing yards 10 19

Total yards 132 383

Cmp-Att-Int 2-12-1 2-3-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 10-87 6-50

Punts-average 3-35.7 0-00.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING —Sciotoville East: Akia Brown 24-110 TD; Symmes Valley: Collin Webb 16-162 2-TD, Cameron Meadows 5-15, Brandon Craft 10-39 TD, Derrek Smith 19-91, Levi Cade 3-25, Payton Hayes 4-30 TD, Austin Waugh 2-2.

PASSING — Sciotoville East: Derek Lowe 1-6-1 6, Akia Brown 1-6-0 4; Symmes Valley: Derrek Smith 2-3-0 19.

RECEIVING — Sciotoville East: Brown 1-6, J.D. Hatcher 1-4; Symmes Valley: Curtis Lybrand 1-14, Payton Hayes 1-5.