Dan Yeagley has been head coach at South Range since 1995 and has a record of 152-52 with 12 playoff appearances.

The Raiders posted a huge victory in Week 4, besting Crestview, 49-35. The Rebels have dominated Tier One of the Inter Tri-County League the past five years.

Q. Did your team target Crestview in the offseason and in the preseason?

A. When you have a Crestview on your schedule and they’ve been good for a long time, that is definitely a point of emphasis all summer. They’ve won the league the last five years so it’s a date you circle on the calendar. They have a good program with great players and they are well-coached. We know if we want to win the league we have to beat Crestview so, yes, we focused all summer on that.

Q. Did you do anything special with your game plan against Crestview?

A. We are South Range and we’re going to do what we do. We will be run-oriented, we’ll throw some and hope to have a good mix of run and pass. On defense we will swarm to the ball and try to gang tackle. We try to be sound and simple. We approached the Crestview game like that, talking about preparing mentally to play for 48 minutes. The game plan was pretty simple, we wanted to win the war in the trenches. The offensive line got after it and did a great job. So, no, the game plan was no different than the weeks before that game or since. We just wanted to come out and play South Range football.

Q. What was the reaction of the kids after the win?

A. Obviously they were ecstatic about beating them. Some of them haven’t beaten Crestview on the varsity level so they were very excited. The also understand now they can play at that level and that it is crucial not to take plays off.

Q. Are there negatives to a big win like that?

A. There are some negatives because they are coming off an emotional high and they are 15-16 and 17-year-olds. So we had a good hard practice on Saturday and on Monday we told them we still have a long way to go and we have to prepare the same and work hard each week. We try to sell them on one game at a time because that’s how we have to play.

Q. Midway through the season are you where you expected, not just wins and losses but how the team has developed and is playing?

A. We are about where we thought they would be. We’ve had some tough early games where we’ve had to come from behind. The kids worked hard all winter and they bonded together, it was great seeing them grow during the offseason. We knew we had a special group and they are playing as a team, we have no superstars. That stems from the offensive line, they are very good and are a tight-knit group.

Q. Have you had any pleasant surprises?

A. We found a kicker this spring. Tyler Rothbauer, who plays on the soccer team, approached us this winter about kicking for us. We gave him a trial in the spring and he’s kicking for us. He’s had several kickoffs into the end zone, he punts for us and is 22-for-25 on extra points and made a field goal. He never played football before and is a huge surprise for us.

Q. What about your opponent this week, United?

A. They are a scary group. You talk about Crestview’s quarterback-running back tandem, United has a good pair also. Garrett Beech is a great quarterback and the scary thing now is he has (Mike) Martin back there also. They both are very fast and quick.

Interview by Doug Chapin, Vindicator sports reporter. Email him at dchapin@vindy.com