Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes First-year South Range head football coach David Rach oversees his offense during a 7-on-7 tournament at Salem High School this summer. Rach is taking over for longtime South Range head coach Dan Yeagley, who led the Raiders to a state championship last season.

BEAVER TOWNSHIP — Following up a championship season is a tough ask for a team.

With that said, South Range is ready for the pressure.

Despite having a new man leading the program, the Raiders aren’t changing that much. Seniors leave and freshmen arrive, but there’s a lot of continuity in Beaver Township.

David Rach is the new man in charge, replacing legendary coach and recent Hall of Fame inductee Dan Yeagley, and is returning the rest of the coaching staff as the Raiders look to defend their state championship.

But at this stage of the game, it’s not about using last year’s successes as a benchmark. It’s utilizing the same day-by-day approach that got them as far as it did last season.

“We’re trying to get better every day. I think you have to be really careful about setting long-term goals for a group,” Rach said. “Obviously we have internal goals that we talked about and we’re aware of but at the end of the day, they understand that none of those long term goals matter if we’re not handling the day-to-day stuff. … We feel like if we handle those things, then the long term success comes. Generally speaking, our goal is to become the best team that we’re capable of being, whatever that means.”

Expectations aren’t tempered however. The program has established itself as a state power, and the hope is to maintain it. There’s just work that needs to be done before stuff like that is discussed.

Like players in new roles acclimating to new jobs.

Coming off a championship season led by a stellar senior class, there’s obviously an element of pressure at play. Rach notes that while there’s pressure stepping into a larger role on a title-winning team, South Range has a rich tradition, so there was going to be pressure regardless.

“Whether we like it or not, there’s some pressure and not just because of the championship. There’s pressure in playing for South Range because we’ve had a great program for a long time,” Rach said. “We have a community and we have a school system that expects us to go and handle ourselves the right way and play the right way. There’s some pressure there, I think. They are a confident group, but at the end of the day, like being on a team that won a state championship and playing sparingly is a little bit different than being the guy that’s got to go in and do it every day. I think it’s somewhere in the middle.”

There’s no shortage of challenges on the Raiders’ schedule this season. With teams like Springfield, Louisville, and Kennedy on the slate, it’s not going to be an easy title defense. Tough schedules are just par for the course for South Range nowadays though. The Raiders played an independent schedule for two years before joining the Northeast-8, so stacking with tough games is something the program is used to doing.

“When we initially joined the Northeast-8, we had like a two year independent schedule,” Rach said. “That was something that we had to really work on. Just getting our guys to see the kind of players we were going to experience in the Northeast-8. We think we have some really good players that we can challenge and put them in tough spots and and learn our lessons the hard way and have the success that we’re really proud of having when we have it.

“I think part of it too, is when you get 16 teams in the playoffs, we feel like we should be in that hunt for the most part and we want to make sure if and when we get to the playoffs, we’re battle tested and ready to go.”

OFFENSE

Tristan Toy has had plenty of time to get ready for his new role. Last season, Toy served as the understudy to quarterback Billy Skripac, entering games when they got out of hand. Luckily for the junior, a lot of games turned into blowouts in the Raiders’ favor and he was able to gain a lot of experience under center.

Now, Toy is set to take over the starting job.

“It feels good. I like running the show. I feel like I helped a lot on defense last year. I kind of ran the show a little bit over there, but I like running the offense too,” Toy said.

There’s plenty of continuity at running back as the Raiders return each of their backs from last season.

Blake Ewert, Aidan Dominguez, and Luke Starkey all played roles in the backfield and are expected to only see their roles grow this year.

“That’s a big deal. It’s one less thing that you’re worried about putting a band-aid on,” Rach said. “Those guys have done a good job. Obviously having Blake back has been really nice, but all those guys have done a good job. It’s nice that they touched the ball last year. I think just having those guys already know what’s going on, the install has been a lot easier for them and they’re able to kind of bring a bit of a calming presence to the offense. Guys that know they’ve been in big spots and played in big games and done well, so it’s really nice having those guys back.”

While they lost a lot of talent, specifically from the wide receiver corps, Rach thinks the supposed drop off is nowhere near as drastic as some people may think.

Brady Crumbacher, Gavin Nagy, Nate Lewis, and Troy Combs are all options out wide, and junior Heath Crouse will handle tight end duties.

“I think our wideouts will be better than what people probably expect,” Rach said. “They were behind some really good players last year. That’s not to say they’re not great players in their own right. They’ve done a great job. I think Brady Crumbacher has looked really good early, he’s done a great job leading for us. He played some really good football for us last year. We’re excited about him.”

Seniors Zander Mercer and Cam Carr will anchor the tackle spots on the offensive line, Kam Aquisto and Gus Valentine will handle guard duties, and Andrew Brian will be at center.

Staff photo / Greg Macafee
South Range junior quarterback Tristan Toy throws a pass during a 7-on-7 scrimmage at Salem High School earlier this summer. Toy is taking over under center for the Raiders and will fill in the hole left by standout quarterback Billy Skripac, who led the Raiders to a state title last year.

DEFENSE

Those same names will be in the mix on the defensive line. On both sides of the ball, the guys up front are going to be crucial.

“I think we’re going to obviously rely really heavily on those guys up front,” Rach said. “We have some really skilled young guys that are getting some time to get comfortable and get confident. Until then, we’re going to rely on those guys up front to kind of set the tone and help us to grow up.”

Toy will quarterback the defensive unit from the Sam linebacker position. Ewert, Luke Starkey and Dylan Smesko will all see time in linebacker roles as well.

Crumbacher, Nagy, Powell, Dominguez, and Combs will all see action in the defensive backfield.

As a unit, the Raiders only allowed 9.3 points per game last season, pitched three shutouts, including a 35-0 win over Liberty Center in the state semifinals, and only allowed three teams to scored 21 points or more.

SPECIAL TEAMS

South Range is lucky to have two capable kickers on its roster.

Luke Starkey started last season, but was injured midway through the regular season.

Logan Butcher stepped up in his place and the two will split time there this season.

Toy will handle punting duties. Watch for the skill position players in the kick and punt return roles.

2023 Schedule

Aug. 17 at Springfield 7 p.m.

Aug. 25 Green 7 p.m.

Sept. 1 John F Kennedy 7 p.m.

Sept. 8 Lakeview* 7 p.m.

Sept. 15 Struthers* 7 p.m.

Sept. 22 at Poland* 7 p.m.

Sept. 29 Girard* 7 p.m.

Oct. 6 at Niles* 7 p.m.

Oct. 13 Louisville 7 p.m.

Oct. 20 Hubbard* 7 p.m.

*-Conference game

2022 Results (16-0)

Springfield (7-5) W 37-7

At University School (8-2) W 42-14

At Canton CC (7-5) W 34-21

Struthers* (7-5) W 23-13

Poland Seminary* (5-6) W 48-0

at Girard* (8-4) W 56-12

Niles McKinley* (2-8) W 55-0

At Jefferson Area* (11-4) W 42-7

Lakeview* (3-7) W 66-6

At Hubbard* (6-5) W 28-0

#Liberty (4-6) W 35-6

#Garfield (9-3) W 49-10

#Cardinal Mooney (6-7) W 34-6

#Perry (11-3) W 49-21

#Liberty Center (14-1) W 35-0

#Ironton (15-1) W 53-27

*-Conference game

#-OHSAA playoffs

Coaching staff

Head coach: David Rach, 1st season

Staff: Wayne Allegretto (OC); Nathan Toy (RBs); Levi Taylor (OL); Matt Combs (WR); Nico Mancuso (DC); Bart Dockry (LBs); Tony Foster (DL); Brian Crumbacher (DBs); Marty Hutchinson (Defensive Assistant)

Team facts

Division V, Region 17

Northeast-8 Conference

Players on roster: 56

Returning letterwinners (22): Logan Butcher, Gaven Nagy, Tristan Toy, Nate Lewis, Troy Combs, Brady Crumbacher, Heath Crouse, Blake Ewert, Luke Starkey, Jimmy Powell, Aidan Dominguez, Michael Chadbourne, Eddie Stachowitz, Gus Valentine, Andrew Brian, Patrick Lally, Kamron Aquisto, Shaun Updegraff, Cameron Carr, Zander Mercer, Luke Gehring, Dylan Smesko

2022 season: Although they were beating teams on the scoreboard, the Raiders got off to a slow start in 2022 before mowing their way through the competition. South Range put together a perfect 16-0 record and captured a state championship.