SIDNEY — With starting quarterback Ethan New on the bench after suffering an early injury, Sidney couldn’t keep up with Xenia in a Miami Valley League game.

The Yellow Jackets scored the first touchdown, but New was injured shortly after, and Xenia ran away to a 48-7 victory at Sidney Memorial Stadium.

“We’ve got to lick a little bit of the war wounds, get back, see the film and figure out how we can play a little bit better on the defensive side of the ball,” Sidney coach Dave Taynor said.

Xenia junior running back Deaunte White ran for 388 yards and all seven of the team’s touchdowns. He averaged 11.4 yards per carry; his longest carry was 44 yards.

Xenia had 564 yards of offense, 496 of which came on the ground.

“We have to do a better job of being physical at the point of attack and have at gap integrity,” Taynor said. “We got pressed at the line of scrimmage. We’re looking around blocks a lot more than what we should.

“We’ve got to play physical with our hands and win the line of scrimmage. Can’t look for the ball. You start looking for the ball and moving, you’re not fit. So we’ve got to do a lot better, there’s no doubt about that, against the run.”

New was injured after taking a sack early in the first half and senior receiver Julius Spradling played at the position the rest of the way. Spradling was injured in the first half in Week 1 and missed last week’s slugfest with Stebbins.

“He really didn’t practice much, and he had run two or three reps total at the quarterback position (this week),” Taynor said. “We’re in at halftime trying to draw up a couple of things just to be able to have something where he can potentially throw so it wasn’t just run.

“… And honestly, our next emergency quarterback is Isaiah Foster, and he was a little dinged up through the week, missed some practice as well.”

Sidney had 189 yards of offense. Spradling ran for 89 yards on 10 carries and completed 2-of-4 passes for a net 0 yards. He had a pass intercepted in the third quarter.

After recovering the opening kickoff, Xenia fumbled in the red zone, and Tank Fleming took a short pass from New shortly after and ran 79 yards for a touchdown. Grady Mitchell kicked the extra point to give Sidney a 7-0 lead.

The Buccaneers drove down and scored on a 17-yard run by White, and he dominated the rest of the game, often shedding or dodging defenders to keep runs alive.

His two longest touchdown runs were a pair of 25-yard runs in the second half.

The Buccaneers led 27-7 at halftime and scored on the opening drive of the third quarter. After Trimonde Henry intercepted a Spradling pass, the Buccaneers drove and scored with a little over seven minutes left on a 6-yard TD run by White, which started a running clock.

While New’s injury knocked him out of the game, it didn’t appear to be serious; Taynor said he’ll be evaluated on Saturday.

The Yellow Jackets are scheduled to travel to Fairborn this coming Friday. The game will take place at Skyhawk Stadium, the recently-constructed 5,000-seat stadium next to the new school on Commerce Boulevard, close to Interstate 675 and Dayton Yellow Springs Road.

Reach Sidney Daily News editor Bryant Billing at 937-538-4822, or follow @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook or @TopBillingSport on X (Twitter).