By Tom Williams

williams@vindy.com

HANOVERTON

Thirty-six hours after being named South Range High School’s interim head football coach, Nick Haught was nervous.

Those butterflies didn’t last long for the defensive coach. Senior running back Joe Alessi rushed for 303 yards and scored four touchdowns while JR Renforth and Ben Baird made huge plays on defense Friday as the Raiders defeated United, 52-28.

Thursday, Haught found out he would be replacing Dan Yeagley on the Raiders sideline, one day after South Range placed its head coach and offensive coordinator Wayne Allegretto on administrative leave. The penalties stemmed from an ineligible transfer student playing in two junior varsity games and last week's win over East Palestine.

“I got real nervous because those aren’t shoes I can fill at all,” Haught said of replacing Yeagley, the Raiders head coach since 1996 (longest tenure in the Mahoning Valley).

Asked what his initial reaction was to the penalty, United head coach Mike Ward replied, “I was shocked. I am convinced, without a doubt, [that it] was nothing intentional.”

Ward said the Eagles expected the Raiders to come out on fire.

“We know that adversity has a tendency to unite people,” Ward said. "I expected that they would rally around their coach.

"Dan Yeagley is a fine man — his integrity is as high as anyone I've ever been around in coaching. I knew his team would respond."

The Raiders wasted little time seizing control of the game. After Jonah Wilson kicked a 27-yard field goal, Renforth, a defensive back, picked up a fumbled pitchout and raced 42 yards for a 10-0 lead.

“He was a big part of our defense,” Haught said of the junior who suffered a concussion two weeks ago and sat out last week’s game. “It’s good to have him back.

“I was just hoping he would get on the ball and he ends up scooping it and scoring for us,” Haught said. “That was fantastic.”

Renforth suffered a hip flexor injury, but is expected to play next week,

Alessi’s first touchdown followed, a 67-yard run for a 17-0 lead late in the first quarter.

"We knew what he had to do, we not going to let anything distract us," Alessi said.

South Range (4-3, 2-2 Inter Tri-County League Tier One) forfeited last week’s win to fall out of a six-way tie for first place.

The loss knocks United (5-2, 2-2) down to a three-way tie for fourth place with South Range and Columbiana.

“You’ve got to learn to bounce back; that’s one of the lessons we learn through sports,” Ward said.

United running back Caige Vincent's 8-yard touchdown run gave the Eagles hope early in the second quarter. But on their next series, punter Colton Antram dropped the snap and was tackled by Ben Baird at the United 3.

“I just came off the edge real hard, looked up and the ball happened to be on the ground so I went after it,” Baird said.

On the next play, Alessi scored for a 24-7 lead. In the final seconds of the first half, quarterback Ryan Miller scored on a 10-yard run for a 24-point edge at halftime.

The Eagles scored the first two touchdowns of the second half to slice the lead to 31-21. Alessi shattered their comeback hopes on the next play with a 52-yard touchdown.

What impressed Ward was Alessi’s “second effort. It seemed a few times we had him stopped, but he kept his legs moving, bounced off tackles.

“He’s very durable and did a wonderful job.”

Vincent finished with 224 yards rushing.

South Range announced that Yeagley and Allegretto are reinstated today.

If the Raiders win their remaining three games (Columbiana, Springfield and Jackson-Milton), tying for the league title is a possibility.

"We would love to bring it back to South Range," Baird said.

Haught called his team's performance "unbelievable. Thursday's practice was one of our best.

"They were fantastic, fired-up," Haught said. "They took this thing to heart. They wanted to win this for Coach Yeagley and Coach Allegretto. That first half, they showed it.

"It was fabulous."