Staff Report

WILLOW WOOD — At the end of the first quarter the South Gallia football team found itself in a tight battle with its biggest rival just a few miles down the road in Willow Wood.

12 minutes later, the Rebels were ready to go home.

Symmes Valley (5-5), holding on to a narrow 7-0 lead after one quarter of play, exploded in the second frame with 28 points from four different players to give the Vikings a 35-0 halftime advantage leading to a 35-6 victory over the Rebels (2-8) on senior night in Willow Wood.

With the win Symmes Valley snaps a three-game losing streak to finish the season at .500 while South Gallia wraps up its worst grid campaign since 2004 with three straight road losses by a combined score of 120-6.

Not the most memorable of seasons for a Rebel team just two years out from back-to-back playoff appearances.

Still, South Gallia found plenty of positives in its 2008 season and will have plenty to build on for next year with a large class of underclassmen returning for another year.

But on Friday night, things went south right from the start.

Symmes Valley’s Kyle Bowen toted the pigskin 35 yards for a score just two minutes into the contest for a 7-0 SVHS lead and from there the route was on.

South Gallia did respond to the early score with a nice defensive stand over the next 10 minutes of play, but the second quarter was a different story.

Bowen scored his second touchdown of the night just a few ticks into the second quarter with a 1-yard run to give the Vikings a 14-0 lead after the Cody Bland kick and from there the floodgates were opened.

Evan Herrell was next to score for the Vikings when he broke free for a 61-yard touchdown run at the 7:58 mark and Jesse Graybeal added to the Symmes Valley totals two minutes later with a 3-yard rumble for a 28-0 home lead.

Bland, who was a perfect 5-for-5 on extra points, then capped the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run to give the Vikings a 35-0 halftime lead while South Gallia was left trying to find an answer.

The Rebels managed just one first down in the opening half and only managed to move the chains six times total while racking just 67 yards of offense in the game.

In the second half Symmes Valley slowed things down considerably while South Gallia managed to find a little bit of a spark when Austin Phillips broke free for a 51-yard yard touchdown run at the 5:52 of the third frame to cap the night’s scoring.

Overall the Vikings finished with 270 yards of offense — 261 of which came on the ground — led by Herrell who had 73 yards on five carries and Bowen who had 64 yards four eight carries.

South Gallia was led by Phillips who toted the ball eight times for 84 yards, but several plays resulting in negative yardage took away from the overall rushing numbers for the Rebels.

Through the air Bryce Clary was 2-for-4 for 17 yards and B.J. Stanley completed two passes in eight attempts for eight yards.

Friday’s contest wraps up the season for both teams as five players played in their final game in SGHS red and gold. They are B.J. Stanley, Aaron Gwinn, Skylar Wilford, Jacob Dotson and Caleb McClanahan.