Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

BEAVER — When the dam breaks, the river will flow.
The Beaver Eastern Eagles stacked the line of scrimmage on defense, so the Symmes Valley Vikings broke the wall of defenders that led to six long touchdowns runs in a 38-14 Southern Ohio Conference win on Friday.
The Vikings ran the ball 40 times for 449 yards led by Josh Ferguson who had a career-high 291 yards on just 12 carries and scored three touchdowns.
“They were really loading the line of scrimmage and we were able to break some long runs. We want to try to get a hat on a hat. Our guys did a nice job with that,” said Vikings’ coach Rusty Webb.
“All of our backs ran the ball hard tonight. Josh did a nice job of seeing the holes and trusting his blocking.”
Symmes Valley (6-1, 2-0) only threw one pass en route to the easy win. Ethan Patterson got 87 yards on 10 carries and Jack Leith added 49 yards on five carries.
“Our offensive line got it done up front. Our coaches did a nice job at halftime getting the adjustments made. I thought for the most part our special teams played well. Defense played well and did their job. I thought our kids played extremely hard,” said Webb.
Nick Strow, Patterson and Ferguson all had interceptions that led to touchdowns for the Vikings.
Ferguson made it 6-0 with an 84-yard jaunt in the first quarter.
Ferguson then had scoring runs of 31 and 53 yards in the second quarter to make it 18-0.
Eastern (2-5, 1-1) finally scored on an 11-yard pass from Wyatt Hines to Gage Denny. Logan Clemmons ran for the conversion and it was 18-8.
But Patterson erased that score by returning the kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown and Jack Leith’s conversion run made it 26-8 at the half.
Ferguson got loose on a 54-yard TD run in the third quarter and it was 32-8.
Dillon Mattox had a 1-yard scoring run for Eastern in the quarter, but the Vikings put the game away as Leith went 22 yards for a score in the fourth quarter.
The Vikings — who were penalized 17 times for 147 yards had three touchdowns called back.
Next Friday, the Vikings host Sciotoville East in a league game.
Sym. Valley 6 20 6 6 = 38
Eastern 0 8 6 0 = 14
First Quarter
SV — Josh Ferguson 84 run (kick failed)
Second Quarter
SV — Josh Ferguson 31 run (run failed)
SV — Josh Ferguson 53 run (run failed)
BE — Gage Denny 11 pass from Wyatt Hines (Logan Clemmons run)
SV — Ethan Patterson 86 kickoff return (Jack Leith run)
Third Quarter
SV — Josh Ferguson 54 run (pass failed)
BE — Dillon Mattox 1 run (run failed)
Fourth Quarter
SV — Jack Leith 22 run (kick failed)
——
SV BE
First downs 11 12
Rushes-yards 40-449 161
Passing yards 0 15
Total yards 449 176
Cmp-Att-Int 0-1-0 5-21-3
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 17-147 4-25
Punts-average 3-24.0 3-36.3
——
Individual Leaders
RUSHING — Symmes Valley: Dillon Reed 1-0, Wyatt Owens 1-0, Levi Ross 1-0, Derek Crum 1-1, Nick Strow 3-16, Levi Niece 3-5, Jack Leith 5-49, Ethan Patterson 10-87, Josh Ferguson 12-291; Eastern: Logan Clemmons 9-60, Dillon Mattox 14-79.
PASSING — Symmes Valley: Jack Leith 0-1-0; Eastern: Wyatt Hines 5-16-0 15, Mattox 0-2-2, Chase Carter 0-3-1.
RECEIVING — Symmes Valley: None; Eastern: Gage Denny 1-11, Logan Clemmons 3-24, Dillon Mattox 1-5.