FAIRBORN — Sidney’s offense got moving again and its defense came up with enough big plays in a Miami Valley League game on Friday.

Sidney took an early two-touchdown lead and led by double digits most of the rest of the way in a 37-27 victory at the recently-completed Skyhawk Stadium.

Sidney (2-2, 2-1 MVL Valley Division) had 434 yards of offense after struggling in a 48-7 loss to Xenia last week.

“I was happy with how our guys responded, considering we didn’t play our best the week before. From an offense perspective, guys played really well,” Sidney coach Dave Taynor said. “I mean, the whole group of them, I thought we ran the ball well. I thought we got the ball out in the perimeter. We made some big plays. Some guys stepped up.”

Ethan New, who was injured last week and split time at quarterback with Julius Spradling, completed 14-of-16 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Spradling ran or handed off when under center; he ran for 53 yards and one TD in 12 carries and caught two passes for 27 yards.

“Julius is a really good athlete, and we’ve got to find ways to get him the ball,” Taynor said. “… Our practice week was a little hodgepodge because we weren’t 100 percent sure if Ethan was going to be back. I thought he was, but I couldn’t count on it completely. He didn’t practice a whole lot of things that normally we would have practiced.

“So on a short week for him, his preparation was really good. Julius took a lot of reps at quarterback through the week, and I think he felt more comfortable when we lined him up back there.”

Isaiah Foster ran for 89 yards on 14 carries. Tanner Snider caught six passes for 84 yards and one TD and Tank Fleming caught two passes for 89 yards and one TD.

“We’ve got some talented kids, and I felt like we were able to get guys the ball,” Taynor said.

Fairborn gathered 283 yards of offense, all but 36 of which were on the ground. The Skyhawks broke a few runs, especially in the second half, but fell behind early and struggled to keep up.

Fairborn scored on a 5-yard TD run by Wesley Rohler with 1:39 left in the fourth, but Sidney stopped a two-point conversion try to keep the gap at 10 points and solidify the victory.

“There’s 64 points scored in the game, and in a (high-scoring game), it’s typically somebody on the defensive side or the defense that makes a play that wins the game,” Taynor said. “When they got down there and scored and could have made it a one-score game, and we bowed our backs and stopped them.”

Draven Ferguson led the Yellow Jackets with six tackles and Cain Vanzant had five. Novi Jones intercepted one pass.

Sidney scored the first two touchdowns of the game and led 18-7 at halftime, then scored the first TD of the second half.

After forcing a three-and-out to start the third, New threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Joelon Lyons with 7:39 left to give the squad a 25-7 lead after Grady Mitchell kicked an extra point.

After a decent kickoff return, the Skyhawks quickly responded. Zyaire Cavitt scored from 14 yards out with 6:11 left to cut the gap to 25-14.

Sidney responded on the next drive. Shortly after a long reception by Spradling and a couple runs by Foster, New scored on a 1-yard keeper with 3:42 left to push the lead to 31-14; Mitchell’s extra-point try was blocked.

Fairborn cut the gap to 10 points on its next possession. Cavitt scored on a 4-yard TD run with 1:42 left to pull the Skyhawks within 31-21 after Rohler kicked an extra point.

But the Yellow Jackets again drove, and New scored on another 1-yard TD run with 6:41 left in the fourth to take a 37-21 lead after a failed two-point conversion try.

Rohler scored with under two minutes left to again cut the gap to 10 points, but Sidney was able to run out the clock.

The Yellow Jackets drove and scored on the game’s opening possession. Spradling capped off the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with 8:18 left to give Sidney a 6-0 lead; the extra-point attempt was partially blocked.

The squads traded possessions until New threw a 77-yard touchdown pass to Tank Fleming with 7:57 left in the second, which increased the lead to 12-0; the extra-point attempt was missed.

The Skyhawks (2-2, 1-2) responded with a lengthy drive, which Rohler capped off with a 1-yard TD run with 3:38 left to cut the gap to 12-7.

But Sidney quickly drove and scored before halftime. New threw a 26-yard TD pass to Snider with 2:09 left to push the lead to 18-7 and completed a pass on a two-point conversion try, but the receiver was forced out of bounds just short of the goal line.

“In the first half, I though defensively we played really well,” Taynor said. “They got one little throwback, deceptive, that led to a touchdown. And they’re a really physical football team, so they wore on us a little bit towards the end, but I was happy with how our guys responded.”

Sidney is scheduled to host West Carrollton (0-4, 0-3) in an MVL game this Friday.

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