By ERIC FORTUNE

sports@vindy.com

EAST PALESTINE

After being shut out in the first half, the South Range football team came to life for its ninth win.

After trailing 7-0 at halftime, the Raiders (9-1, 3-1 Inter-Tri County League Red) roared to life in Friday’s 55-14 victory over East Palestine.

Everything that went right for the Bulldogs (6-4, 2-2) in the first half went wrong.

Each of the Raiders’ possessions in the second half began in East Palestine territory.

“Coach [Dan Yeagley] had an effect on us, but us players knew we had to get better,” South Range tight end/linebacker Taymer Graham said. “We had to regroup and come out and play our game.

“It was the last [regular-season] game for the seniors and we just said we need to fix it.”

Aniello Buzzacco scored two rushing touchdowns and one through the air as he finished with 64 yards rushing on seven attempts.

The defense wasn’t too shabby either, holding the Bulldogs to just 12 yards of offense in the second half.

On their second possession, the Bulldogs had the ball first-and-goal at the South Range 4 only to see the drive implode as they punted from the South Range 37.

“I got a great group of seniors,” Yeagley said. “Those seniors are awesome. They pulled the team together before I even got in there. They had them talking [at halftime].

“They do a good job of bringing everyone together. We can coach and they can motivate each other. They understand they are playing for each other.”

East Palestine came out in the first half with a short passing game which caused the Raiders fits. The Bulldogs were inside the South Range 30 three times, but could only muster one score on Parker Sherry’s 2-yard run at the 7:38 mark of the second quarter.

Sherry finished with 122 yards passing, but was held to -11 yards on the ground.

Before halftime, East Palestine got to the Raiders 20 only to see back-to-back sacks end another scoring opportunity.

“That was huge,” Yeagley said. “We were losing, but we were in it. Our kids still had faith.”

Still, the Bulldogs had a 161 to 46 advantage in total yards and had forced four punts from the Raiders and seemingly had control.

“They came out with a good defensive philosophy,” Yeagley said. “They had a good plan. We had some troubles based on what we worked on all week. They came out to play.

“We weren’t panicking. We were doing alright. We got a few breaks to keep them from scoring which was crucial.”

Those adjustments were huge with Raiders picking up more first downs on their opening drive of the second half than they did throughout the first half, going 66 yards.

Mathias Combs put the Raiders ahead 34-7 after a 44-yard punt return to end the third quarter.

“First half, nothing was going right,” Graham said. “They gave us some different looks. I missed a couple of blocks. We all missed some blocks.

“I just think we got mad in the second half,” Graham said. “We were flat in the first half and just came out to play in the second half.”