Seymour scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to post a 24-6 win against Silver Creek on Friday in the opening round of Class 4A sectional play at Bulleit Stadium in Seymour.

Owls coach Josh Shattuck credited the defense with an outstanding effort.

“Defense wins championships — everybody knows that,” Shattuck said. “It’s very fitting that when the season is on the line it’s the defense that comes through.”

Alan Perry ran 17 yards for the Owls (7-3) for a touchdown at 10:19 of the fourth period and Nathan O’Mara ran in the 2-point conversion.

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Later in the quarter, the Owls stopped the Dragons (5-5) on downs and Jackson Morris ran 41 yards for a touchdown with Perry passing to Morris for the final two points.

The first half was a defensive battle with the Owls holding an 8-6 lead at the break.

The Owls offense was stone cold in the first period. Seymour had two possessions and rushed for net three yards on each possession, being forced to punt twice.

The Dragons scored on their second possession of the quarter. They rushed 55 yards on 11 carries, and quarterback Josh Landers scored on a 1-yard sneak at 2:12. The PAT kick was wide left.

After the Dragons punted four minutes into the second quarter, the Owls finally got their running game going and marched from their own 16 to the Silver Creek 11 in 16 plays where they faced a second and nine situation.

Perry, who hadn’t attempted a pass the entire game, rolled out to his left, broke away from a Silver Creek defender and found Jackson Morris in the end zone with 17.1 seconds on the clock.

Perry ran in the PAT and it was 8-6 at the half.

Nathan O’Mara had the big rushes on the drive with carries of 12, 11 and 12 yards in the drive and had 47 yards on six carries for the half.

Shattuck credited O’Mara with a strong offensive game as the sophomore gained 66 yards in 9 carries.

Perry topped the Owls with 69 yards and Morris finished with 57 yards on the ground.

Silver Creek had nine possessions on the night, punted three times, lost possessions on downs four times, scored once, and fumbled once with Seymour’s Evens Cribs recovering.

“The special teams were absolutely phenomenal; the kick game was awesome,” Shattuck said. “We flipped the field a little bit. At this point in the season, teams are going to see we’re scoring 30, 40 points every week. They’re going to have good game plan against us and we have to win games like this.”

The Owls, winners of seven straight games, will travel to Jennings County (1-9) on Friday night after the Panthers defeated Madison 17-7.