BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

WILLOW WOOD, Ohio — The Tug Valley Panthers improved to 3-0 on the season Friday night with a 27-6 road victory over Symmes Valley (Ohio).

Tug Valley took a 6-0 lead after one quarter and led 12-0 at the half. They added eight more points in the third quarter and seven in the fourth for their final total.

The Vikings scored their only TD in the final quarter.

Sophomore quarterback Elijah Fluty rushed for one touchdown and passed for two more, while sophomore Adam Slone rushed for a TD. Fluty pass scores went to Buddy Marcum and Riley Damron. Dakato Ooten scored a 2-point conversion and Caleb Totten kicked an extra point.

Fluty connected with Marcum for the first Tug Valley TD late in the first quarter and then with Damron in the second quarter. Slone hit paydirt for the Panthers in the third quarter, while Fluty tacked on some insurance with a touchdown in the final quarter.

Sophomore Austin Smith led the Panthers with 67 rushing yards on nine carries, while Fluty picked up 53 yards on seven tries. Marcum caught a pair of passes for 68 yards. Smith caught three passes for 16 yards.

Fluty completed 12-23 pass attempts for 173 yards.

Marcum led Tug Valley with 10 tackles, including two sacks. Dakoda Walker had seven tackles to help lead a balanced defensive attack for Coach Hady Ford’s squad.

“We played good defensively. Our defensive line played their best game so far this year,” Ford said.

“Offensively we didn’t play as well as I thought we should have. There’s always room for improvement, so we just have to keep working and getting better each week,” Ford added.

Tug Valley will play host to East Ridge on Friday. It will be the Hall of Fame game for TVHS. (On the original schedule, Tug was supposed to play host to Phelps, but that was changed due to low numbers for the Hornets on their roster this season.) An induction of this year’s hall of fame class will be held before the game.

SCORE BY QUARTERS:

TUG VALLEY: 6 6 8 7 – 27

SYMMES VALLEY: 0 0 0 6 – 6