Staff photo / Neel Madhavan Fitch tailback Deon’Dray Richard (7) carries the ball against Warren G. Harding on Friday night in Austintown.

AUSTINTOWN — Warren G. Harding overcame nine penalties, but Austintown Fitch couldn’t overcome three turnovers.

After trailing at halftime, the Raiders took over in the second half, scoring 22 straight points to rally to a 35-21 victory over the Falcons in the final game of the regular season on Friday night in Austintown.

“Football is all about adjustments,” Harding head coach Matt Richardson said. “My staff did a great job of scouting them in the first half and making adjustments with the kids. The kids did a great job of executing it.”

Harding capitalized on all three of Fitch’s turnovers, turning each of them into touchdowns, including the final score on a 34-yard scoop-and-score by Chaz Coleman in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

“Can’t turn the ball over,” Fitch head coach TJ Parker said. “Our offense hasn’t done that the last few weeks, and we did that tonight.”

Harding struck first in the first quarter, taking advantage of a short field after a Collin Kalaher interception, as Coleman connected with Devon Morgan for a 10-yard touchdown strike.

Fitch’s offense got off to a slow start, but the Falcons were in business once the ground game got going, as tailback Deon’Dray Richard got Fitch on the board with a 5-yard touchdown run at the very beginning of the second quarter.

After getting the ball back with a little over two minutes till halftime, Fitch looked to build on its lead before the break.

Kalaher took a deep shot downfield from deep in the Falcons’ territory, hitting Brady Evans for a 50-yard gain. A few plays later, Richard plowed into the end zone from a yard out for his second touchdown of the game.

After Coleman threw an interception on a hail mary near the goal line to end the second quarter, Fitch took a 14-6 lead into halftime.

The second half, however, belonged to the Raiders, as Coleman shook off the pick and took over.

On the opening drive of the second half, backup quarterback James Jones hit Marcus Crum Jr. for a 24-yard touchdown, which cut into Fitch’s lead.

Richard fumbled on the Falcons’ ensuing possession, and Harding took that and turned it into another score to take the lead several plays later as Coleman plowed into the end zone from a yard out.

“Anytime you’re playing a great opponent, winning the turnover margin is pretty important,” Richardson said. “We did that tonight, and that helped us win the game.”

The Raiders scored again midway through the fourth quarter, as Jones found Coleman deep downfield for a 20-yard touchdown pass to give Harding a 28-14 lead.

“He’s a Power-5 kid for a reason,” Richardson said of Coleman. “So you’re going to lean on that guy when the going gets tough. He did a great job.”

Coleman scored four touchdowns for the Raiders, throwing for one, running for one, catching another and scoring one on defense.

“Chaz Coleman, it’s that simple,” Parker said of what changed in the second half for the Falcons. “We tried to throw everything at him — find him, send guys. They did a good job of mixing up pass runs and short passes. I think what they did best was they held the ball and just kept feeding him. We didn’t stop them.”

Fitch scored once more on Richard’s third touchdown of the game with five minutes left.

The Falcons got the ball back with 1:50 to go down a score with a chance to tie the game, but Harding’s defense forced a strip sack on Kalaher on the second play of the drive, which allowed for Coleman’s scoop-and-score.

Both Harding and Fitch end the regular season at 7-3 heading into the playoffs, which begin next week. Seeds and first-round matchups in Division II Region 5 will be finalized and determined on Sunday.

“Our seniors had two goals (before the start of the season) — they wanted a winning record and a home playoff game,” Richardson said. “They got both. Now we just gotta go and do it.”