Defense plays "lights out" in Vikings win over Pointers

WILLOW WOOD — The talk all week was offense. But by the end of the game, it was all about the defense for Symmes Valley.

The Symmes Valley defense held South Point's ground game in check, came up with a pair of 1st half turnovers that turned into scores and the Vikings walked away with a 45-24 win over the Pointers on Friday night.

"I'm proud of them. There was some adversity there, especially when you go against a team like South Point. If you're not disciplined and ready to handle their athletes, they can give you trouble. Which they did in the first half," said Symmes Valley head coach Ben Ferguson.

And coach Ferguson had plenty to be proud of in the first half for good reason.

The Viking offense scored on five of its first six possessions of the game and took a 37-24 lead into halftime. Meanwhile, the defense held in check the Pointers' prolific rusher Landon Vance. The junior running back had gone for over 200 yards in his last two games, but was held to just 98 yards on Friday night.

"We talked about it all week to the kids that an athlete like (Vance) is going to make a play. All you can do is contain him as best you can and force them into situations where it's someone else that has to beat you. I think we did a good job with it."

The defense was lights out, but so was the stadiums' lighting. When the clock struck zeroes for halftime, the lights kicked off, sending the stadium into total darkness. After cooling down the light banks and restarting them, the game resumed after about a 40 minute delay.

Symmes Valley got the ball to begin the game and drove 69 yards in 9 plays to score the games' first points. Bronx Carpenter finished the drive with a 7-yard touchdown scamper. Miguel Ferreira added the point after to make it 7-0.

Misfortune struck the Pointers on their first play from scrimmage, as a bad exchange on the handoff put the ball on the ground, and Vikings recovered at the Pointer 41.

The Vikings marched down the field and scored again. This time Carpenter threw to his favorite target as of late, Jackson Fields, for an 18-yard touchdown toss to make it 14-0 nearly midway through the first quarter.

South Point got its offense going on its next drive, with an 8-play drive that culminated with a 10-yard touchdown run from Vance to cut the deficit to 14-6.

But that would be the closest the Pointers would get the rest of the way.

On the Vikings ensuing possession, Carpenter hit Fields, who found himself all alone behind the dense, and the sophomore receiver took it 49 yards for the touchdown.

All told, Carpenter turned in another impressive game, going 29-of-36 for 406 and tossed 4 touchdown passes. Fields caught two of those touchdown passes to go along with his game-highs of 11 receptions and 193 yards.

"I think it's the defense everybody plays, I guess I'm just able to get open," said Fields. "We've been playing together for years and things are just coming together for us."

"I'll give South Point credit, they have a good defense. But we came to play and all of our guys looked good. I thought we did good overall," said Carpenter.

The second quarter saw both teams begin to do what many expected to see, trading touchdown after touchdown.

The Pointers got 2 more touchdown runs from Vance, and another from the arm of K.J. McLain, who connected with James Carey for a 62-yard touchdown strike that cut the Vikings lead to 29-18 with 2:22 before halftime.

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The Vikings answered with two Carpenter touchdown passes, both of which went to Levi Russell. The first score between the two came on a screen pass that Russell split between two defenders and left the defense behind him for a 70-yard score.

The defenses took over the third, as both teams found it difficult to find the end zone. Both teams combined for just 3 first downs in the quarter, and every drive stalled on fourth down.

"In the second half we made some little adjustments that worked out. We had some stupid penalties but that's something we can clean up and be alright," said Ferguson.

The only score of the second half came at the beginning of the fourth, when Asher Maynard rumbled in from 2-yards away to round out the final score at 45-24.

Symmes Valley RB Asher Maynard scores from 2-yards out to finish off the scoring for the Vikings.

And while South Point coach Chris Davis lamented the bad start, he praised his players for not giving up.

"You can't start a game off that way. It puts you behind," said Davis. "In the second half we had stops, we just couldn't get the offense going. But the defense played great in the second half. I think we held them to just 6 points. We just couldn't take advantage of it."

McLain completed 13 of his 22 passes and finished with 177 yards passing for the Pointers. Carey finished with a team-high 107 yards receiving and Ethan Hunt caught passes for 44 yards.

The Vikings hit the road next Friday to face Fairfield Christian Academy. South Point returns home for their OVC opener against Rock Hill.

South Point 6 18 0 0 = 24

Sy. Valley 21 16 0 8 = 45

First Quarter

SV — Bronx Carpenter 7 run (Miguel Ferreira kick), 8:52.

SV — Jackson Fields 18 pass from Bronx Carpenter (Miguel Ferreira kick), 6:02.

SP — Landon Vance 10 run (run failed), 2:15.

SV — Jackson Fields 49 pass from Bronx Carpenter (Miguel Ferreira kick), 2:04.

Second Quarter

SP — Landon Vance 8 run (pass failed), 11:13.

SV — Levi Russell 70 pass from Bronx Carpenter (Carpenter to Asher Maynard), 5:31.

SP — James Carey 62 pass from K.J. McLain (pass failed), 4:41.

SV — Levi Russell 13 pass from Bronx Carpenter (Carpenter to Fields), 2:22.

SP — Landon Vance 7 run (run failed), 11:13.

Fourth Quarter

SV — Asher Maynard 2 run (Carpenter to Fields), 10:37.

———

SP SV

First downs 11 21

Rushes-yards 28-55 23-36

Passing yards 177 406

Total yards 232 447

Cmp-Att-Int 13-22-2 29-36-1

Fumbles-lost 4-1 1-1

Penalties-yards 5-40 6-43

Punts-average 2-25.5 1-39.0

———

Individual Leaders

RUSHING – Landon Vance 21-98 3-TD, Robert Napier 2-minus 1, Ethan Hunt 1-minus 13, Elye Patterson 1-0, K.J. McLain 3-minus 24; Symmes Valley: Levi Roth 4-1, Bronx Carpenter 3-minus 15 TD, Asher Maynard 15-55 TD, Team 1-minus 5.

PASSING – South Point: K.J. McLain 13-22-2 177 TD; Symmes Valley: Bronx Carpenter 29-36-1 406 4TD.

RECEIVING – South Point: Landon Vance 3-18, James Carey 3-107, Davon Lewis 2-9, Noah Fahey 1-minus 8, Robert Napier 1-7, Ethan Hunt 3-44; Symmes Valley: Levi Russell 3-101 2-TD, Jackson Fields 11-193 2-TD, Gradee Holland 2-3, Levi Roth 2-19, J.R. Turner 1-4, Asher Maynard 10-86.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.