The South Range boys soccer team was glad to have the senior midfielder back in action Wednesday night in a Division III regional semifinal against visiting Kirtland.

Landry, who missed about two weeks when he was quarantined for COVID-19, scored with 7:44 remaining in the second overtime to give the Raiders a 2-1 victory and ensure the Mahoning Valley will send at least one team to the state final four.

South Range improved to 13-5-2 and will play host to Cardinal Mooney in Saturday’s regional final.

“This doesn’t feel real to me, really,” said Landry, who rifled his winner about 25 yards into the back of the net past Kirtland goalkeeper Spencer Fortney. “I didn’t expect to score from there, but I just thought to put it on the net and see what happens. It’s just soccer.”

Staff photo / Brad Emerine -- South Range's Mark Naples, left, takes a pass and dribbles toward the sideline during the Raiders' 2-1 double-overtime win against Kirtland in a Division III regional semifinal Wednesday.

That set off a wild celebration, as the Raiders are one step away from reaching the level they did a year ago, despite only four starters returning.

Kirtland finished at 13-2-1.

“We were the underdogs in this tournament several times now, but we scored late to beat Badger and scored late just to get into overtime tonight,” first-year coach Zach Stamp said. “Our boys are resilient and play with a lot of heart for every second of the game. Kirtland, like all teams from that Cleveland area, has a bunch of good club players that play high-level soccer. They were big and played physical.

“But I’ll take the guys over here every time. You can’t measure what’s in their hearts.”

Landry said the celebration was fun and thanked his teammates for giving him the chance to get back on the field.

“Having to sit out and be away from them and not knowing whether I’d play with them again,” he said. “… I should be thanking them for winning just so I had time to get back out here.”

The Raiders fell behind 1-0 with 20:35 left before halftime when the Hornets’ Nico Podijil-Schlesinger scored off his own rebound shot. Podijil-Schlesinger took a long feed and out-positioned a defender for the angle on the ball. As South Range goalkeeper Bradon Johnson raced out to meet him near the top of the box, Podijil-Schlesinger ripped his shot off the cross bar and it bounced right back to him as he knocked it in.

It took a while for the Raiders to get adjusted to the length of Kirtland’s kicks and ability to win balls in the air with a big height advantage. Plus, the game was a little rough.

Although South Range made that adjustment, the Raiders still needed a goal.

“In the first half, we weren’t taking shots when the opportunities were there,” Stamp said. “We’d try to make one pass too many instead of letting it fly. We knew their keeper had good hands, but we felt if we took shots from distance when they were available, sooner or later, we’d get a good bounce our way or a follow-up.”

With Stamp and his assistants screaming encouragement from the sidelines in the second half, the Raiders began to get more aggressive with their attempts.

Finally, with 6:53 left in regulation, Camden Thomas drove one past Fortney to tie the score and give the hosts the momentum and second-wind they had been seeking.

“Both of our goals came from 25 yards out,” Stamp said. “That’s what we were trying to get them to do in the first half. Our coaching staff was discussing when to make the move and get Camden forward on our push. I’m glad we made that decision at the right time. That was certainly a big moment for him and all of us.”

The Raiders had survived a few close calls to be in position for the tying goal, as Johnson made a big save with 16:20 remaining and a spectacular one-on-one save at the 14:35 mark. Then, Kirtland was awarded a free kick from about 20 yards with under 10 seconds remaining, but Jason De Zwaan’s kick went wide left as time expired.

“When we were pushing up to try to get that tying goal, it put a lot of pressure on me and our defense, but we answered the call,” Johnson said. “This is just an amazing feeling.”

South Range nearly won less than a minute into the first overtime, but Luke McConnell’s shot went off the cross bar.