Vikings fall to Hillsdale in regional semifinals

JEROMESVILLE — So, it’s going to be that kind of a night.

The Symmes Valley Vikings took the opening kickoff and move to the Hillsdale 41 in 6 plays only to throw an incomplete pass on fourth down.

On the Falcons’ first play, Owen Sloan broke free up the middle and ran 59 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

And so it went for the Vikings who lost 48-7 to the top-seeded Falcons in the Region 27 Division 7 semifinals on Friday.

“They’re a very good team top to bottom for sure and they have a great program,” said Vikings’ coach Ben Ferguson. “I think our guys played hard and I’m proud of them for sure.”

It was even worse on the Vikings’ second possession as they ran 12 plays only to stall at the 36.

This time it took the Falcons 7 plays but they scored on a 3-yard run by Sloan and it was 14-0 with 1:25 left in the first quarter.

Sloan kept running for a little more than half the game as he finished with 12 carries for 205 yards and scored 5 touchdowns.

The Falcons (11-1) finished with 428 total yards with 32 coming on the ground.

The Vikings (9-3) struggled with the Hillsdale offensive and defensive lines which forced them to throw the ball 38 times.

Quarterback Bronx Carpenter was chased around in the pocket most of the game and was forced to throw a lot of safety valve outlet passes. Carpenter was 25 of 37 for 209 yards and a touchdown but suffered 3 interceptions.

The Vikings ran just 14 times for a net of 10 yards.

Hillsdale opened the game up in the second quarter by scoring 20 points to lead 34-0 at the half.

Sloan scored on a 29-yard run to make it 20-0 with 8:45 in the second quarter.

A 20-yard run by Sloan set up a 2-yard scoring run by Brock Bower and it was 27-0 with 4:33 on the clock.

With less than 2 minutes to play in the half, the Falcons went 56 yards in 7 plays with Sloan going the final yard for the touchdown as time expired.

Quarterback Kael Lewis had runs of 21 and 24 yards that kept the drive alive.

Sloan got his fifth TD on the fourth play of the second half as he ran 29 yards to make 41-0 and the first unit was done for the night.

The Vikings refused to quit as they went 80 yards in 5 plays to begin the fourth quarter to score.

Carpenter hit Levi Russell with a slant pass and Russell slipped between 2 defenders and raced for the score to complete a 63-yard pass play.

Miguel Ferreira kicked the conversion and it was 41-7 with 8:0-9 to play.

Hillsdale went 80 yards in 8 plays capped by Reed Twining’s 1-yard run with 2:30 left to play.

Hillsdale will play Danville for the regional title next Friday.

Sym. Valley        0     0   0     7     =     7

Hillsdale 14   20   7     7     =     48

First Quarter

Hil — Owen Sloan 59 run (Brock Bower kick) 9:28

Hil — Owen Sloan 3 run (Brock Bower kick) 1:35

Second Quarter

Hil — Owen Sloan 29 run (kick failed) 8:45

Hil — Brock Bower 2 run (Brock Bower kick) 4:33

Hil — Owen Sloan 1 run (Brock Bower kick) 0:00

Third Quarter

Hil — Owen Sloan 29 run (Brock Bower kick) 8:30

Fourth Quarter

SV — Levi Russell 63 pass from Bronx Carpenter (Miguel Ferreira kick) 8:09

Hil — Reed Twining 1 run (Cam Brown kick) 2:30

———

       SV  Hil

First downs     11   23

Rushes-yards      14-10 27-362

Passing yards      209 66

Total yards  219 428

Cmp-Att-Int        25-38-3 6-14-0

Fumbles-lost       2-1 1-0

Penalties-yards   2-6.5     5-40

Punts-average     1-26.0   1-58.0

———

Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Symmes Valley: Asher Maynard 7-14, Bronx Carpenter 5-8, Mason Adams 1-1, Team 1-minus 13; Hillsdale: Owen Sloan 12-205 5-TDs, Kael Lewis 5-82, Brock Bower 2-13 TD, Mikey Shenberger 3-19, Reed Twining 3-22 TD, Ryder Bisesi 1-29, Team 1-minus 8.

PASSING–Symmes Valley: Bronx Carpenter 25-37-3 209 TD, Asher Maynard 0-1-0; Hillsdale: Kael Lewis 6-12-0 66, Reed Mager 0-2-0.

RECEIVING–Symmes Valley: Levi Russell 4-95 TD, Asher Maynard 7-19, Andy Strow 5-20, Michael Weaver 2-27, Gradee Holland 2-0, Beckem Roth 5-48; Hillsdale: Hayden McFaddden 3-34, Kyle Turk 1-20, Ayden Salyer 2-13.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.