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Raiders blank Liberty Center

Staff photo / Brian Yauger South Range’s Ayden Leon (24) is upended by a Liberty Center defender during the Raiders’ 35-0 win over the Tigers in the Division V state semifinals. South Range will play for a state championship for the first time in program history next week.

CLYDE — After a dominating 35-0 win over Liberty Central in the Division V state semifinal game, the South Range Raiders are headed to Canton for a shot at the state title for the first time in program history.

The Raiders’ high-powered offense started in the first quarter and didn’t look back. Senior quarterback Billy Skripac connected with Ayden Leon on a 52-yard touchdown pass to start the scoring for South Range (15-0).

“Billy has done a great job all year. He’s a great player. He was able to spread it around and get it to his receivers,” head coach Dan Yeagley said.

Skripac led the offensive charge, going 14-of-18 for 263 yards with four touchdowns in the air. He also got it done on the ground with 31 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown.

“Even with him, you have to give credit to the offensive line. They gave him time to throw and opened up the seam for the running game. It was a total team effort tonight,” Yeagley said.

Skripac’s main target Friday night was Leon, who hauled in nine receptions for 151 yards and three touchdowns.

“Ayden always does a great job for us. We have players,” Yeagley said. “We’re lucky to have those players with us on the edges that can make things happen for us. He came up huge for us.”

The standout performance, however, came on the defensive side of the ball. In addition to the shutout, South Range held the Tigers to only 123 yards of total offense.

“It’s just a blessing to have as good of a defense as I do,” Skripac said. “The starting defense hasn’t given up more than two touchdowns in any game. It’s an incredible feeling to know that I have 11 guys to have my back every single game.”

Yeagley also spoke highly of the defensive unit following the win.

“The defense was awesome,” Yeagley said. “The (Northeast-8) does a great job. It’s full of great players and coaches. The NE-8 prepared us for a game like this.”

On the offensive side of the ball, Skripac said the offense was prepared for the task at hand.

“Coming into the game watching film on their team, we knew they had a really good defensive line. That’s kind of a mindset I had – find the extra receiver, come off my reads and make some plays out of nothing which I know I can do and it’s what I did today,” Skripac said.

FIRST FOR EVERYTHING

Yeagley has been at the helm at South Range since 1994. In that time, the furthest his team has made it in the playoffs is to the semifinal round. After speaking with his squad following the game, a teary-eyed Yeagley said this year is special.

“It’s special; it really is. It’s always a coach’s hope,” he said. “There are 700 football teams in Ohio that hope to play in Canton in December. I’ve been doing it for a long time, and it takes a special team, special players and a special coaching staff to do that. Luckily, I have that special coaching staff and that special group of players.”

As one of the leaders of the team, Skripac said there are aspects that need to be cleaned up prior to the title game next week.

“Even today, we were a little sloppy. I think we need to fix a few things up for next week. We’re going to play a better team every single week we continue through the playoffs, and there’s only one week left,” Skripac said. “We need to keep playing Raider football, watch film, do the little things right and we’ll come out on top.”

Being head coach for over 25 years, Yeagley has seen his fair share of teams who looked as if they could go the distance, but ultimately fell short. This group, however, is different, and he credits the 20 seniors who lead the pack.

“This group understands they can’t do it themselves and they need to rely on the person next to them,” Yeagley said. “We’re playing for the teams in the past who couldn’t get there also, it’s a program. That’s who we’re playing for now.”

nhawthorne@tribtoday.com

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