Team

South Range

Record	Div.	Conf.
13/1	Div. V	Independents

Team

Springfield

Record	Div.	Conf.
8/3	Div. VI	Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference

By ERIC FORTUNE

sports@vindy.com

NORTH LIMA

It was a bit of a surprise in the opinion of South Range head coach Dan Yeagley.

Springfield, known for the big-play capabilities of quarterback Graham Mincher, decided running the ball against the Raiders was the way to go.

South Range has the top rushing defense in the Inter-Tri County League, so the odds were stacked against the Tigers.

“They came out and they were running the ball on us,” Yeagley said. “I was surprised because our run defense is pretty good. They were hitting that running play and were hitting it over and over and over again.

“We couldn’t make the adjustments until halftime. We were lucky they weren’t throwing the ball all over the place because Mincher is a great quarterback. I thought they’d throw it a little bit more.”

The Raiders adjusted and controlled the clock enough in the second half to win 23-17 in the opening Inter-Tri County League, Red Tier matchup.

The Tigers (3-3, 0-1) ran the ball on eight of their first nine plays from scrimmage with one drive ending in Raider territory and another tying the game at 7 after Frank Centofanti’s 3-yard run at the 2:06 mark of the opening quarter answering Seth Morrow’s 1-yard plunge just 90 seconds earlier. Centofanti ran for 107 yards on 15 carries.

“I felt if we could end up running the football, if we could establish the run, it would set some things up for us,” Springfield coach Sean Guerriero said. “Our line did an exceptional job. We just have to be more consistent in what we do. Some negative plays hurt us.”

Those plays started to pop up after the Raiders (4-2, 1-0) took a 17-10 lead on another run from Morrow at the 8:06 mark of the third quarter. Morrow ran for 75 yards on 19 carries and Ethan Dominguezhad 91 yards on 16 attempts.

Springfield struggled to consistently move the ball in the second half with just one first down until its final drive, when they trailed 23-10.

“There aren’t a lot of plays you can call when you are in third-and-15 and third-and-10,” Guerriero said. “They do a good job coaching them and I knew it was going to a tough game for our kids. We need to put ourselves in good situations in second and third down so we’re not in third-and-longs.”

After 195 yards of offense in the first half, the Tigers managed just 35 yards in the first 22 minutes of the second half compared to 161 for the Raiders. South Range started three drives in Springfield territory.

But the Raiders though let the Tigers hang around with two costly fumbles inside Springfield’s 20-yard line.

Springfield capitalized on South Range’s final mistake when Mincher capped a drive with a 12-yard run with just three seconds to play to make it 23-17.

The ensuing onside kick went out of bounds and South Range took a knee to end the game.

“The biggest concern is that we have to hold onto the football,” Yeagley said. “We have to take care of the ball. We had a couple of turnovers that you can’t have. You can’t do that against good quality teams because they will make you pay. They get the onside kick and have one more chance. We have to play our game and do a better job.”