That initial score kick started a flurry of shots that led to a 6-0 victory over the Indians on Tuesday night in a Northeast-8 showdown.

“It was a good win,” Raiders coach Zach Stamp said. “A good win in the conference. We had a good win against Jefferson and hopefully we’ll keep it going throughout the season. Girard is a great team and to put up a 6-0 outing was a great effort by us.”

Senior Logan Weaver was the catalyst for South Range, scoring the initial goal. Six minutes later, Camden Thomas beat Girard goalkeeper Thomas Cardiero to make the score 2-0 one second shy of 10 minutes into the game.

After the first two goals, Girard switched up their style, focusing on defensive pressure. They double-teamed the South Range attackers as much as possible. It kept the Raiders off the scoresheet for around 20 minutes until Weaver scored his second of the game to extend the South Range lead.

Staff photo / Brian Yauger — Tom Landry, left, of South Range collides with Girard freshman Zack Morris. Landry finished with one goal.

The key to getting around the pressure was an emphasis on possession.

“If you work the ball around them enough, they’re going to get confused, they’re going to get tired and that’s what we do,” Stamp said.

“That’s why we run in the preseason, that’s what happens when we keep possession, we keep the ball moving and we’ll get a goal eventually.”

The second half was the same story as the first, with the Raiders hitting the back of the net as quickly as possible in the second frame as well. This time it was Luke McConnell who got on the board 33 seconds into the half. Just a minute later, he did it again to make the score 5-0.

Goalkeeper Braden Johnson had the clean sheet on the night. Due to strong play from the Raider defenders, neither had to face many shots from the Girard attackers.

“You always love the games where you keep the clean sheet and they don’t get many shots because you know the defense is doing their job,” Stamp said. “They did that tonight, so that’s all I can ask.”

With two minutes remaining in the game, Tom Landry scored the final goal to make the game 6-0 in favor of the Raiders. South Range moves to 4-4-1 on the year.

“Hopefully we can keep going in the league,” Stamp said. “We’ve got league matches all next week and the rest of this week, so hopefully we can keep going and get our standings up and help with our district rank.”

Girard (4-5-1, 1-4-1 NE8) looks to recover with a road match against Jefferson, while South Range returns home to host Niles.

The Raiders claimed victory last time, but to Stamp, that means nothing about this game, and they have to continue to work just as hard.

“We beat them once already but that doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “We’ve got to come out and show them what we’ve got again and lay the groundwork down again and hopefully we’ll get another one.”

The two teams close out the season against each other at South Range Oct. 15.