By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

CHESHIRE — For the Symmes Valley Vikings, there was good news and bad news.

But mostly good news.

The Vikings turned in a good performance that generated 484 total yards as they beat the River Valley Raiders 40-12 on Friday.

“In all three phases of the game, we had some really good moments and we had some poor moments,” said Vikings’ coach Rusty Webb. “We had more good than poor. We just need to be more consistent.”

Alec Herrell ran 14 times for 167 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Vikings’ ground game that churned out 383 yards. Quarterback Cody Myers ran 13 times for 102 yards and hit 3 of 7 passes for 100 yards and a score.

D.J. Miller had 120 return yards to go with 56 yards rushing on just six carries.

Symmes Valley (2-0) forced River Valley to punt on the first series of the game and then Miller returned the punt 82 yards for a touchdown. Eli Ash kicked the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

The Raiders (1-1) answered with a 62-yard scoring strike from Austin Whobrey to Trey Noble and it was 7-6.

“We got off to a good start. We had some poor tackling on their long touchdown pass. That was the only real lapse we had on tackling. We lost focus,” said Webb.

“But our kids played well in the heat and we slowly wore them down. All of our backs ran harder tonight than last week.”

Myers returned the kickoff 44 yards to set up a 5-yard scoring run by Herrell and it was 13-6.

On the first play after a Raiders’ punt, Herrell bolted 68 yards and it was 20-6.

Herrell came up with another big play just before the half as he ran 54 yards for a touchdown and it was 26-6 at the break.

River Valley went 67 yards in six plays keyed by a 30-yard screen pass to Patrick Williams that set up a 2-yard scoring run by Williams to make it 26-12 at the 2:19 mark of the third quarter.

But the Vikings quickly answered as they went 63 yards in just five plays capped by a 54-yard Myers to Scott Dial pass on the first play of the fourth quarter and it was 32-12.

Symmes Valley’s Caleb Holderby tackled Whobrey in the end zone for a safety after a bad snap sailed over the head of the Raiders’ quarterback.

Tanner Mays returned an interception for a touchdown with just 33 seconds left to cap the Vikings’ scoring.

The Vikings host Chesapeake next Friday in a battle of unbeaten rivals.

Sym. Valley 20 6 0 14 = 40

River Valley 6 0 6 0 = 12

First Quarter

SV – D.J. Miller 82 punt return (Eli Ash kick) 10:15

RV — Trey Noble Noble 62 pass from Austin Whobrey (run failed) 4:26

SV — Alec Herrell 5 run (kick failed) 3:03

SV — Alec Herrell 68 run (Eli Ash kick) 1:01

Second Quarter

SV – Alec Herrel 54 run (run failed) 2:05

Third Quarter

RV – Patrick Williams 2 run (pass failed) 2:19

Fourth Quarter

SV – Scott Dial 54 pass from Cody Myers (pass failed) 11:50

SV – Safety (Caleb Holderby tackled Whobrey in end zone) 7:45

SV – Tanner Mays 42 interception return (run failed) 0:33

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SV RV

First downs 18 10

Rushes-yards 48-384 33-72

Passing yards 100 142

Total yards 484 214

Cmp-Att-Int 3-8-0 9-25-1

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0

Penalties-yards 7-56 5-50

Punts-average 4-21.8 8-30.2

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Symmes Valley: Alec Herrell 14-167, Cody Myers 13-102, D.J. Miller 6-56, Kyle Vallance 1-10, Austin Owens 1-2, Tyler Rowe 2-11, Scott Dial 1-0, Michael Cremeans 3-15, Dustin Holbrook 1-3, Tanner Mays 4-18, Cory Thacker 2-0. River Valley: Patrick Williams 15-58, Austin Whobrey 9-minus 9, Trey Noble 1-20, Kyle Brown 1-3, Josh Campbell 6-minus 1.

PASSING–Symmes Valley: Cody Myers 3-7-0 100, Tanner Mays 0-1-0. River Valley: Austin Whobrey 9-25-1 142.

RECEIVING–Symmes Valley: Alec Herrell 1-28, D.J. Miller 1-18, Scott Dial 1-54. River Valley: Trey Noble 3-81, Kyle Brown 1-11, Austin Davies 2-20, Patrick Williams 2-30, Stephen Brown 1-0.