Raiders heading 'South'

The Sharon-based team will play two games at South High.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
SHARON -- The Penn-Ohio Raiders semi-professional football team, bolstered by several Youngstown area players, will be playing their next two home games in Youngstown at the former South High Stadium.
The Raiders, who are based in Sharon and are members of the U.S. Football Alliance, also play their home games at Farrell High. They will play host to the Pittsburgh Pride Saturday at 5 p.m. and the Lackawanna Dynasty the following Saturday at the same time at South Stadium.
"We try to switch [the home games] around because we have players from Ohio and Pennsylvania," said Randy Goodnight of Sharon, co-owner of the Raiders and founder and president of the 20-team league that is in its second season. The league has five four-team divisions.
This will be the third time that the Raiders are playing at South.
"We played two games at South last year. We played the [Ohio] Red Bulls twice [there]. We beat them at Campbell and South in the regular season and lost to them in the playoffs," said Goodnight, noting that the Red Bulls won the league championship last year.
Team in fourth year
Goodnight said his team is in its fourth year of existence, having played the first two years in the Ohio Valley Football League based in Parkersburg, W. Va. He said the Ohio league still has between 15-20 teams.
"We broke away from Ohio to start our own league. We were not happy with the way it was run and set up," said Goodnight, whose league has mushroomed in growth from last year. "We only had six teams last year but now we have 20."
The Raiders (2-0) beat the Rochester (N.Y.) Renegades, 14-6, in the season opener on the road, then beat the Cleveland Wildfire, 46-0, last week at Farrell.
The Raiders, coached by Chris Brown of Campbell, are in first place in the Central Division of the USFA. Brown also is co-owner of the team along with Goodnight.
Marrow will start at QB
Ray Marrow (South High), who passed for 95 yards and two TDs in the Raiders' win over Cleveland, will start at quarterback Saturday.
Marrow played quarterback for the Red Bulls last year and led them to the league title. He was MVP in the championship game against Penn-Ohio, before switching to the Raiders for this year.
Marrow is sharing QB duties this year with J.J. Wilson from Farrell and the University of Cincinnati.
Meanwhile, Ed McElroy (Chaney) is the Raiders' top running back while Squire Cross (Rayen) is a leading receiver. McElroy scored two TDs against the Wildfire while Cross caught two TD passes. Wilson led the Raiders' win with 100 yards passing and four TDs.
Other receivers are Lokey Howell (Farrell) and Anthony King (Mooney).
Defensive leaders
On defense, some of the Raiders' leaders are middle linebacker Rob Santee (Niles), tackle Paul Macklin, lineman-linebacker Chris Simmons (Girard) and end Rich Walker (Warren Harding).
Goodnight also serves as an assistant coach for the Raiders along with Keith Thomas (Warren Harding) and John Hether (West Middlesex).
For more information, visit www.leaguelineup.com/pennohio.
kovach@vindy.com