Staff photo / Brian Yauger South Range senior Chris Colucci rallies the crowd during the Raiders’ state semifinal win over Liberty Center last week.

It all comes down to this.

With 15 games and as many wins under their collective belts, South Range has one last hill to climb. And like every prior week during the postseason, it only gets tougher.

This week, the Raiders take on another unbeaten squad, the 15-0 Ironton Tigers. The Tigers battled their way through the southern region of the state relatively unscathed like South Range.

Like Liberty Center last week, Raiders coach Dan Yeagley thinks these Tigers are similar to his squad as well.

“This year they got a really good running back who runs the ball hard. He’s a big kid going to Wisconsin. They’ve got a couple of big receivers, one of them’s going to Cincinnati and their quarterback does a great job,” Yeagley said. “He throws the ball really well and started for him last year and they do a great job defensively. They’re quick, they run very well and tackle very well. They’re very similar to us. It’s going to be a tough ballgame and it’s going to be a great ballgame. It’s going to be a good battle between two good teams.”

Jaquez Keyes is the Madison-bound Tigers’ tailback and will be a crucial factor in the Ironton offense.

Obviously at this stage of the game, both teams have deep stables of weapons on the offensive side of the ball. It’s just a matter of who can pick apart the opposing defense the best.

Yeagley noted there’s a few matchups his squad can take advantage of, but it’s going to come down to his guys playing their best football. Quarterback Billy Skripac will need to be a gamebreaker, getting the ball to his weapons and calling his own number when the situation calls for it.

“Their defense runs very well, they’re quick and athletic, the defensive line is pretty good and their linebackers are very good,” Yeagley said. “They’ve got a couple of good defensive backs that can cover people and are a little bit taller than Liberty Center, so that will give us a little bit of a different matchup with our tall receivers because there will be tall defensive backs covering them this week, so we could get some interesting matchups. But I think we could take advantage of some of them too and Billy (Skripac) has to be a difference-maker. He has to make sure he gets his receivers the ball and runs it when he can and our offensive line has to do a great job, especially blocking their two defensive ends which are pretty good.”

A large part of the story for South Range has been the team’s senior class. It’s been written about time and time again, and in Yeagley’s words, they’ll shine again as the lights are the brightest they’ll be all season.

“We’ve relied on these seniors all along and a lot play and contribute in many different ways,” Yeagley said. “That’s going to be very important. They’re going to be a difference-maker. They really are. Having that senior leadership is huge. Tomorrow, you’ll see the seniors shine again.”

No matter the stakes, they’ve stayed levelheaded. While the last few weeks have been special, including a Thanksgiving practice before last week’s game, the Raiders have kept their collective nose to the grindstone.

“They’ve set their goals high and they know that they have to work hard to achieve those goals,” Yeagley said. “Their work ethic is unbelievable, it’s second to none. They work very hard, they do everything that we asked of them. This week we’re still conditioning like we have all year and we’re still lifting like we have all year. Our practices haven’t changed because this is what they do and this is what they know and a lot of that’s just because of the senior leadership and how good they are.”

With the stakes being as high as they are, the biggest difference-maker this morning is going to come down to that even-keel attitude. The lights are at their brightest. Yeagley thinks the team who doesn’t melt in the spotlight is going to hold the big trophy.

“I just think it comes down to focus,” he said. “Don’t get too wrapped up in the moment. Enjoy the moment, they’ve got to enjoy it because it’s a once in a lifetime thing for them. They’ve got to enjoy the moment but don’t get caught up in it. They’ve got to understand that there’s still one more game to be played. They have to get down to business and do what they’ve been doing for the last 15 weeks, so go out there and play Raider football.”

Start time for today’s game is set for 10:30 a.m. at Canton’s Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.