WILLOW WOOD - It was a lightweight going against a heavyweight. And for three rounds, the lightweight was taking the punches pretty well.

The lightweight boxer, a.k.a. Symmes Valley Vikings, jabbed and battled for three quarters under the constant pounding of the heavyweight, a.k.a. Lucasville Valley Indians. But the Vikings couldn't sustain the blows and gave way to a fourth quarter knockout as they lost 41-0 to the Indians Friday in a battle for first place in the Southern Ohio Conference.

&#8221We could never get anything going. They took some things away from us and we could never get in a rhythm,“ Vikings coach Rusty Webb said. &#8221In the fourth quarter, we just ran out of gas.“

The heavily-favored Indians led just 14-0 at the half thanks to two key plays and 21-0 after the third quarter. But Lucasville scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to win going away.

&#8221Our kids played extremely hard. In the first half, we gave up two big plays to them. Other than that, we played the best defense we've played all year,“ Webb said.

&#8221I was really proud of our kids' effort. This is the deepest Valley team I've coached against in 15 years. I can't say enough about the effort our kids gave. Their depth just wore us down in the fourth quarter.“

The Indians are now 6-1 on the season and 3-0 in the SOC Division I, their final season in the division before elevating to the big-school division next year.

Symmes Valley fell to 4-3 and 2-1.

Lucasville racked up 422 yards of total offense including 288 on the ground. Craig Williams had 113 yards on 12 carries while Travis Jones added 84 on 11 rushes. Quarterback Chuck Gregory was 4 of 10 passing for 134 yards including a two touchdown passes.

Derek Carpenter ran 10 times for 62 yards to lead the Vikings.

Williams had an 8-yard scoring run in the first quarter to give Lucasville a 7-0 lead. A 17-yard pass from Gregory to Brock Williams up the lead to 14-0 at the half.

Craig Williams ran 13 yards for a third quarter touchdown that extended the lead to 21-0.

In the fourth quarter, Craig Williams ran 12 yards on the first play for a score. Kyle Arnold caught a 34-yard scoring pass with 8:15 to play and backup quarterback Kyle Hickerson ran in for a score with 1:05 left.

Lucasville77720=41

Sym. Valley0000=0

First Quarter

LV – Craig Williams 8 run (Travis Jones kick) 0:05

Second Quarter

LV – Brock Williams 17 pass from Chuck Gregory (Travis Jones kick) 3:23

Third Quarter

LV – Craig Williams 13 run (Travis Jones kick) 3:31

Fourth Quarter

LV – Craig Williams 12 run (Travis Jones kick) 11:45

LV – Kyle Arnold 34 pass from Chuck Gregory (Travis Jones kick) 8:15

LV – Kyle Hickerson 9 run (run failed) 1:05

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LVSV

First downs154

Rushes-yards44-28833-96

Passing yards13431

Total yards422127

Cmp-Att-Int4-10-02-9-1

Fumbles-lost0-01-1

Penalties10-832-10

Punts-average3-28.38-23.1

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Lucasville Valley: Travis Jones 11-84, Craig Williams 12-113, David Myers 9-39, Chuck Gregory 7-minus 15, Tom Stewart 2-37, Matt McClain 2-14, Kyle Hickerson 1-9: Symmes Valley: Derek Carpenter 10-62, Matt Owens 8-12, Chris Capper 9-9, Seth Saunders 3-11, Tyler Smith 2-1, Robbie Miller 1-1.

PASSING - Lucasville Valley: Chuck Gregory 4-10-0 134; Symmes Valley: Chris Capper 2-9-1 31.

RECEIVING - Lucasville Valley: Brock Williams 2-51, Travis Jones 1-49, Kyle Arnold 1-34: Symmes Valley: Kirt Shipley 1-16, Matt Owens 1-15.