Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

ALBANY — The Symmes Valley Vikings controlled the clock, they just couldn’t control those moments of fate.

Despite dominating the time of possession, the Vikings ran into a couple tough breaks as they fell 21-12 to the Alexander Spartans on Friday.

Symmes Valley (1-1) ran 61 plays to just 40 for Alexander and had a time-consuming drive that ate up nearly 14 minutes only to come up empty.

“The kids played extremely hard. I’m very proud of their effort,” said Vikings’ coach Rusty Webb. “Defensively I was impressed. We made some big plays, but they made some big plays at the right time.”

The Vikings took a 12-0 lead to start the game on scoring runs of 26 and 16 yards by Brandon Craft.

The first score came after a nice kickoff return by Tanner Mays that enabled the Vikings to go just 36 yards in five plays.

The second touchdown was a 35-yard, nine-play drive following a fumble recovery.

Alexander used a good kickoff return to get to the Vikings’ 48 and nine plays later Brody McGrath ran 14 yards for the touchdown and Alexander was down 12-7.

The Spartans went 68 yards in 14 plays with McGrath running the final 4 yards for the score and it was 14-12 with 3:26 left in the half.

Symmes Valley embarked on a 22-play, 85-yards drive in the third quarter that spilled into the fourth quarter. But on third-and-2 at the Spartans 9-yard line, the Vikings were called for holding and the drive bogged down at the 9.

Alexander ran three plays to get a first down, then used a 65-yard flea-flicker pass from Taylor Kimbrough to Lucas Thompson for a 65-yard touchdown and it was 21-12 with 7:36 to play.

Alexander ran just 10 plays in the second half.

“We’re disappointed in the loss, but we just have to come back Monday and regroup,” said Webb.

The Vikings had 282 total yards with 261 coming on the ground. Craft had 101 yards on 13 carries, Collins Webb 67 on 15 tries and Derrek Smith 55 yards on 12 attempts.

Alexander had 244 total yards with 102 through the air. McGrath ran 16 times for 97 yards and was 5 of 8 passing for 37 yards.

Symmes Valley 12 0 0 0 = 12

Alexander 7 7 0 7 = 21

First Quarter

SV— Brandon Craft 26 run (kick blocked) 9:43

SV — Brandon Craft 16 run (pass failed) 3:48

AA — Brody McGrath 14 run (Kyle Howard kick) 1:23

Second Quarter

AA — Brody McGrath 4 run (Kyle Howard kick) 3:26

Fourth Quarter

AA — Lucas Thompson 65 pass from Taylor Kimbrough (Kyle Howard kick) 7:36

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SV Alex

First downs 20 14

Rushes-yards 55-261 31-142

Passing yards 21 102

Total yards 282 244

Cmp-Att-Int 3-6-0 6-9-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 7-60 4-44

Punts-average 2-26.0 2.40.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Symmes Valley: Collin Webb 15-67, Tanner Mays 3-15, Brandon Craft 13-101, Derrek Smith 12-55, Payton Hayes 10-19, Levi Cade 1-4, Austin Waugh 1-0; Alexander: Brody McGrath 16-97, Josh Barnes 10-24.

PASSING— Symmes Valley: Derrek Smith 3-6-0 21; Alexander: Brody McGrath 5-8 37, Taylor Kimbrough 1-1-0 65.

RECEIVING— Symmes Valley: Collin Webb 1-10, Payton Hayes 1-9, Brandon Craft 1-2; Alexander: Lucas Thompson 2-69, Josh Barnes 1-17, Jacob Wirick 2-15.