Staff photo / Brian Yauger South Range quarterback Tristan Toy throws a pass during the Raiders’ win.

NEW MIDDLETOWN — It may have been his first game starting at quarterback for South Range, but it was obvious Tristan Toy has experience.

The junior was poised under center, throwing for a touchdown and running for another as he helped lead the Raiders to a 41-14 win over rival Springfield.

The win marks the first in first-year coach David Rach’s career.

“It’s exciting, I couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” Rach said. “We made huge strides, I thought, between our second scrimmage and tonight, and we needed to. That was a good football team. I thought we came out like the house was on fire. That’s about as good as we played this season so far, which has been exciting. I’m proud of them for it.

“It’s a group that we believe a lot in, and I think they’re a confident group that has been in these big nights and has been under the big lights and that was exciting. We saw some of that play and the experience pay off.”

The Raiders capped off the methodical opening drive with an 11-yard pass to Brady Crumbacher and South Range converted on a moon throw to get the two-point conversion.

On the ensuing Springfield drive, Toy played difference-maker once again, making an interception and giving the Raiders great field position.

Toy then called his own number on a 4th and 2, plowing through the lines and dashed for the endzone on a 31-yard score.

The Raiders kept Toy slightly limited in preseason action, so once the cuffs came off, the junior was ready to roll.

“I think he was frustrated by the way he looked in the first two scrimmages because we kind of had the handcuffs on him and weren’t allowing him to run and stuff like that,” Rach said. “He’s a gamer. We have a ton of faith in him and we knew coming in what we had with him and he had a great night he had a great week of preparation which showed tonight.”

South Range’s rushing duo of Blake Ewert and Aidan Dominguez combined for three scores. Ewert had two touchdowns, and Dominguez scored the third.

Once the initial Raider rush subsided, Springfield’s defense started to buckle down. The tackles they missed earlier in the game were being made, and they were able to apply more pressure.

That started to translate into points as the Tigers got their first points of the game off a Dante Gentile rush with a minute left in the first half. Wyatt Kuboff scored their other touchdown in the final minutes of the game.

The Tigers look to recover next week against Brookfield, which has been an exciting series over the last handful of years.

“I mean, I think our kids end up playing really hard, and they’re going to give everything they’ve got, but I think that missed assignments tonight really kicked ourselves in the butt,” Tigers coach Sean Guerriero said. “We’ll find out what team we are because I definitely think we’re a better football team than what was shown tonight. For us to be able to get lined up and play Springfield Tigers football, we’ll see what type of kids we are going into week two. We’ve definitely got to end up cleaning up some of those mistakes.”

South Range hosts Division II school Green from the Akron area.