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By DAN HINER

dhiner@vindy.com

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South Range Football Drone

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The South Range Football team is getting some high tech help.

When coaches on the South Range football team are working with players during practice, coach Nick Haught is always looking down. Haught isn’t looking at the play, but he’s watching practices unfold from a different perspective.

The Raiders bought a drone at the start of the year and have used it throughout the season. Haught operates the drone, which flies about 20 feet above the field and films practice.

Haught said the players and coaches needed some time to adjust to the different vantage point.

“Before this, we used to have an ‘end zone cam’ type of shot, but it was stationary and it sat upright,” Haught said. “It was a little more of a pain because the kids had to be out of the way or out of the picture. Now I’m high enough and it doesn’t matter where the kids stand, I can get the shot I need.”

South Range head coach Dan Yeagley said the Raiders reached out to colleges across the country to see how their football programs recorded practice. He the drone made film study easier for the players and coaches because they can see the entire field.

“It took a while for our kids to get used to because you hear a buzzing over your heads. Now it’s a second nature, the kids understand,” Yeagley said. “It really helped us coaches more than anything because now we’re getting unbelievable vision, we’re getting instantaneous feedback. After practice tonight, we’re gonna watch film, watch our practice.”

Haught said the drone was purchased through fundraising by the football team. He said South Range hosted the Penn-Ohio football game, and money generated from the game was used to help pay for the drone.

“We raised our own money for it, we got our stuff together,” Haught said. “Actually, the Penn-Ohio game practice came on our field facility. They donated half the money to pay for the drone for the use of the facilities and our locker room. So half the money came from there and coach Yeagley and the football team raised money to pay for the rest. It was all internal.”

Yeagley said the drone allows the team to continue to learn without breaking the state’s rules on contact during practice. He said two-a-days were the most important time for the drone because the players were allowed to hit, go back and watch the film and return to the practice field.

The drone was out during the team’s practice on Tuesday. Yeagley said the team will look at the film and break down their plays, especially since the only information South Range has on Black River comes from tape.

South Range quarterback Buzzacco said Black River’s offense is similar to Sharpsville, Pa., South Range’s final regular-season opponent. So the team will be prepared heading into the Division V, Region 17 final Friday night.

“They’re a power-running football team,” Buzzacco said. “They run the Wing-T and they run it well. They have three really good running backs and we have to be able to stop them, and just play how we always play.”

South Range running back and linebacker Peyton Remish said the Raiders are a balanced team that performs well on both sides of the ball. He said South Range’s different playmakers on offense and defense could be an advantage.

Remish said the team needs to stay focused because it’s win or go home.

“We’re in the playoffs, obviously every team’s good at this point,” Remish said. “We gotta be focused, practice hard all week and we gotta convert it to the field on Friday night.”