Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

LANCASTER — The Symmes Valley Vikings may be young and inexperienced, but they still know how to run the football.
The Vikings used a strong ground game to beat the Fairfield Christian Knights 19-13 on Saturday.
The Vikings ran 44 times for 309 yards led by Josh Ferguson with 171 yards on 14 carries while Derek Crum added 68 yards on 14 tries and Keifer Wilson 49 yards on 13 attempts.
“We got a little better up front and we did a little better job moving the ball. We had a couple of defensive breakdowns, but we recovered,” said Vikings’ coach Rusty Webb.
The Knights had 229 total yards with 165 on the ground led by David Forbes with 12 carries for 135 yards.
Forbes was also 9-of-17 passing for 64 yards and two touchdowns. The Vikings had 22 first downs to 12 for the Knights.
With only four seniors, Webb said his young team did a good job against the elements they faced.
“We had to make some adjustments on the fly and our young kids did a very good job of making those adjustments. This was a good test for our kids. We went on a long road trip and it was the first time for a lot of our kids. We had two long lightning delays. But our kids did a good job handling those situations,” said Webb.
Ferguson took the opening kickoff and returned it to the Knights’ 43-yard line. Four plays later, Wilson ran one yard for the touchdown and Gavin Yates kicked the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
Fairfield Christian ran six plays only to fumble the ball deep in Viking territory.
The Vikings drove 70 yards in 13 plays but turned the ball over on downs.
Ryan Lewis then came up with the key defensive play of the game as he forced a fumble and then scooped the ball up and ran 4 yards for a touchdown as the Vikings now led 13-0.
Fairfield Christian (0-2) went 57 yards in five plays to start the third quarter and scored on a 19-yard pass from Forbes to Christian Blair.
Luke Leith blocked the conversion and the Vikings led 13-6.
Symmes Valley came right back with a 64-yard, 8-play drive capped by Wilson’s second one-yard run. The conversion run failed and it was 19-6.
The Knights took the ensuing kickoff and went 71 yards in nine plays and scored on the final play of the quarter as Forbes threw to Wyatt Schultz for 13 yards.
The conversion kick was good and it was 19-13.
Symmes Valley controlled the clock in the fourth quarter as the defense clamped down on the Knights’ offense.
“We controlled the ball only we couldn’t score, but that kept them pinned back deep in their own territory. We settled down and played defense after the third quarter,” said Webb.
Symmes Valley visits Chesapeake this Friday.
Sym. Valley 7 6 6 0 = 19
FF Christian 0 0 13 0 = 13
First Quarter
SV — Keifer Wilson 1 run (Gavin Yates kick) 4 plays
Second Quarter
SV — Ryan Lewis 4 fumble return (kick failed)
Third Quarter
FC — Christian Blair 19 pass from David Forbes (kick blocked)
SV — Keifer Wilson 1 run (run failed)
FC — Wyatt Schultz 13 pass from David Forbes (kick good)
——
SV FC
First downs 22 12
Rushes-yards 44-309 18-165
Passing yards 4 64
Total yards 313 229
Cmp-Att-Int 2-7-1 9-19-0
Fumbles-lost 2-0 2-2
Penalties-yards 18-145 9-70
Punts-average 2-31.0 2-22.5
Individual Leaders
RUSHING —Symmes Valley: Josh Ferguson 14-171, Derek Crum 14-68, Keifer Wilson 13-49, Jack Leith 1-17, Nick Strow 2-4; Fairfield Christian: David Forbes 12-135, Max Ross 4-17.
PASSING — Symmes Valley: Keifer Wilson 2-7-1 4; Fairfield Christian: David Forbes 9-17-0, Christian Blair 0-2-0.
RECEIVING — Symmes Valley: Derek Crum 1-2, Jack Leith 1-2; Fairfield Christian: Christian Blair 3-36, Christian Bates 1-16, Wyatt Schultz 2-47.