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STATE CHALLENGE
STANDING IN THE WAY OF SOUTH RANGE GAME IN COLUMBUS IS A DEFENDING RUNNER-UP
By Ryan Buck
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
Last November, South Range senior Will Stephenson and five of his teammates on the Raiders soccer team made the 180-mile trip to Columbus.
The Raiders, having made their first appearance in a regional round of the Ohio Division III state tournament one week earlier, wanted to bear witness for themselves the best the state had to offer at their division’s championship game at Crew Stadium.
“We just decided that weekend [to go],” Stephenson said. “We thought, ‘Hey, maybe we can be here next year.’ At the time, we didn’t realize it could become reality.
“Playing at Crew Stadium [home of the Major League Soccer franchise] is great, but we wanted to see how a real ‘state’ team played, how fast it was or how much different it was than what we were doing,” Stephenson said Monday. “We found it was a lot of the same things we were doing, only faster and with less mistakes.
“A lot of the mistakes we were making were what can make or break a team.”
A year later, Stephenson and his teammates, 10 of them seniors, are one game from that reality.
The Raiders (17-1-2), champions of the Inter Tri-County League for the fourth time in five years and district champions, will play Wednesday in a state semifinal in Wadsworth with a chance to advance to Saturday’s Division III state championship game.
“This is the fun part,” South Range coach Joe Staffeld said. “We achieved the goal that we set out to achieve this year and, lo and behold, we’re in the final four. I can’t say we’re surprised, but it’s exciting.
“We’re going to get ready, get out and play the game we love and enjoy it.”
South Range is the first public school from The Vindicator coverage area to advance to a boys soccer state semifinal since Canfield accomplished the feat in 1989, where the Cardinals fell to Cincinnati Roger Bacon in the state final.
The Cardinal Mooney boys program won a Division II state title in 2002 and last advanced to the state semifinal round in 2006 when they lost in the Division III state final.
“For our school, it’s very cool,” said Jonah Wilson, a senior defender. “We’re going to be remembered as [one of the teams] that has gotten this far in any sport at South Range.”
In 2005, the South Range football team advanced to the Division V state semifinals.
“It’s cool to have your name on a banner, especially if they hang it at school,” Wilson said. “I can say, ‘That was my senior year,’ when I come back later on.”
South Range swept through the ITCL regular season unbeaten before they were tested in wins over Lake Center Christian and Ursuline, the latter for the district title.
The Raiders handled Kidron Central Christian in a regional semifinal before Cole Durina’s overtime goal lifted them over powerful Beachwood in last Saturday’s regional final.
“It hasn’t sunk in for me yet,” senior Matt Russ said.
Before their trip to Columbus is earned, however, the one team standing in their way is not all that unfamiliar. Mansfield Christian is the defending state runner-up.
“We don’t like mystery,” Stephenson said. “We want to see what they’re like and how to play against them.
“What I saw was that they were a small team, size-wise, similar to us. They’re fast and they deserve to be there.”