In 2017, the South Range football program found itself on the outside looking in.

School administrators were forced to make a decision regarding the future of athletics in terms of conference affiliation.

For decades, South Range was a dominant force in the Inter-County League and the Inter-Tri County League. Then in 2014 the majority of ITCL superintendents voted to disband the league to form the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference and the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference.

South Range wasn’t invited to join either conference.

However, in the spring of 2017 South Range was invited to join the Eastern Buckeye Conference, the All-American Athletic Conference Blue Tier and the newly-formed Northeast 8 Conference.

School administrators could have taken the easy road and joined up with the AAC, where South Range – from an enrollment standpoint – would have been the big fish in the small pond.

Instead, the decision was made to join forces with the NE8, where South Range would be the league’s smallest school.

At the time, then-superintendent Dennis Dunham explained that the district’s coaches felt that a step up in competition would pay dividends in the postseason.

“We feel we could be competitive in the Northeast 8 and we know we will have to play up and we feel that by doing so we would better prepare ourselves for postseason tournaments,” Dunham told the Vindicator in 2017. “Our coaches and our student-athletes welcome the challenge. We want to compete at a high level and being a part of the Northeast 8 will force us to bring out our best.”

From a football standpoint, South Range has achieved its mission and then some.

Since the inception of the NE8 in 2019, South Range has won 33 of 35 of its league games. After losing two of its first three league games in 2019, South Range has won 32 consecutive games against NE8 opponents. In that span, they have won four consecutive NE8 titles.

For the most part, South Range – still the smallest school in the NE8 – has been dominant in its victories. The current 32-game league winning streak includes 18 victories by 31 or more points and 25 victories by a margin of at least 23 points.

The stronger regular season schedule has indeed resulted in tournament success. In the two years prior to joining the NE8, South Range was forced to compete as an independent in 2017 and 2018. During those two years the Raiders played 12 opponents with larger enrollment numbers.

Since 2017, South Range owns a playoff record of 19-5 which includes five regional title game appearances, a pair of regional championships and a state title in 2022.

South Range isn’t just the smallest school in the NE8, it is the smallest Division V football school in the state (158 male enrollment with its competitive balance number of 13 factored in). It was just one student shy this year of being a Division VI school.

Tonight South Range (5-0, 2-0) will look to remain perfect when it hosts Poland (4-1, 1-0).

“I was actually a player on the team when we went from the ICL to the ITCL and at the time I thought it was a big jump for us, which it was,” South Range coach David Rach said. “Well, people were saying the same thing when we joined the NE8. It was a huge step up.

“Looking back on it now, joining the NE8 was our best option in terms of travel, competition and size of schools. At the time, there was some uncertainty. We weren’t really sure how we would stack up. There was some ego where we thought, ‘yeah, we can compete here,’ but at the same time we knew we had to take the program to another level in order to match up on a weekly basis.”

Rach noted that playing as an independent for two years helped prepare South Range for the challenge of being the smallest school in a league filled with schools which possess a wealth of football tradition and success.

“We were already established as a solid program, but those two years taught us that we had to really step up our game in all aspects,” Rach said. “Suddenly you’re playing 10 straight games which all feel like championship games. You have to figure out how to sustain health and success every week. You have to adjust to now being the smaller school with the smaller roster.

“Those two independent years were sort of like a grace period where we were able to prepare for the NE8.”

The Raiders’ gridiron success isn’t limited to recent years. Since its inception in 1969, the South Range varsity football program owns an overall record of 433-160, a winning percentage of .730. There have been just seven losing seasons and seven coaching changes over the 55-year span.

Rach insists the secret to success starts with the people who make up the South Range school district.

“Football is important to this community,” Rach said. “We get a ton of support from our administration, from our faculty and from the community at large.

“We have some advantages in terms of the type of families we have here. Parents are more than willing to have you coach their kids hard. They expect success. South Range as a community expects their kids to do things the right way, to be disciplined and to be totally committed and dedicated to whatever they do, whether it’s schoolwork or an extracurricular activity.”

Rach is a 2007 graduate of South Range. He joined the Raiders’ staff in 2013 under Dan Yeagley, then took over the program in 2023 when Yeagley stepped down following a 28-year stint.

Under Yeagley, South Range was 248-75.

Rach owns a 17-2 record in his first 19 games.

“The staff continuity has been a huge benefit,” Rach said. “There’s a lot of coaches on the staff right now who have been here a lot longer than I’ve been here. Guys who I played for and who I grew up watching.

“I’m blessed with a staff that selflessly believe in this program and are willing to do whatever it takes to help our student-athletes achieve success on and off the field.”

South Range enters tonight’s game against Poland having outscored its five opponents 190-34. It has defeated league opponents Lakeview (4-1) and Struthers (4-1) by a combined score of 75-20.

“This group is really special in that they are extremely selfless, they are a mature group that really loves one another,” Rach said. “These guys are fiercely loyal to one another, they’re best friends on and off the field. They are great leaders.”

South Range senior wide receiver/defensive back Gaven Nagy says that he and his teammates are well aware of the conference winning streak. They understand the expectations that go along with the program’s winning tradition. Nagy said the Raiders feel as though they “have a target on our backs, because every opponent wants to be that opponent to knock us down.”

Still, Nagy insists the high expectations do not result in added pressure in the locker room.

“We know we’re going to get everyone’s best shot, so we never go into a game unprepared or unfocused,” Nagy said. “We have the same mindset every week at practice and during games. We prepare the right way all week long then on game night we let loose and do our thing.”

As for the program’s continuous success?

Nagy echoed the comments made by Rach regarding the desire to maintain a winning tradition within the program.

“When I was a freshman and sophomore, the class of ’22 really went out of their way to teach us younger players what it meant to be a South Range football player,” Nagy said. “Even after the season was over, they were helping us out any way they could. Their careers were over but they cared about the future of the program.

“That always stuck with me. Now that I’m a senior I’m trying to be that type of leader.”

Tonight marks South Range’s final home game of the regular season. The Raiders will likely return home Nov. 1 to host a first-round playoff game.