LEOPARDS RUN OUT OF TRICKS; SOUTH RANGE TREATED TO VICTORY

CANFIELD, OH- On Friday the 13th, the Louisville Leopards marched into Rominger Stadium as a 1-7 football team, but in the spirit of Halloween, Coach Kappas had them dressed in costume as a contender to the defending Division V  State Champion, South Range Raiders.  While the score doesn’t indicate much of a game with the final tally, 38-8, witnesses know the first half was worth the price of admission.

South Range broke out of the gates early as Blake Ewert broke free from 56 yards away to give the Raiders the advantage at 7-0 with the Logan Butcher extra point.

The Leopards would run an outstanding backdoor screen from Owen Burich to Cam Dougherty for a 30-yard strike to bring it to 7-6.  After a procedure penalty on the extra point attempt, Louisville was backed up and decided to dip into the bag of tricks with a fake extra point that the holder flipped the ball to the kicker, Tate Aljancic who tossed to a wide-open Braiden Hershey to give Louisville the lead at 8-7.

A long run before the half by Tristan Toy, and a tough running conversion by Ewert would set up Logan Butcher for a 28-yard field goal that would put the Raiders up at the break, 10-8.

Then it was all South Range.

The Raiders would come out of the locker room with their hearts on fire as they’d effortlessly drive down the field to start the second half with more of the ground game as Tristan Toy and Aidan Dominguez would rip lengthy runs to set up a 3-yard Toy plunge into the endzone to make the game 17-8.  The Raider defense would zip things up and force a punt, then Toy would rip a 52-yard keeper on the RPO followed by an Aidan Dominguez 32-yard pick-six, to put the Raiders up 31-8.

The final touches were painted on in the final stanza as South Range deployed another long run for a touchdown when Blake Ewert scored from 34 yards away.

South Range (8-1) will now focus their attention on senior night next week as they host Hubbard to finish out the regular season schedule and look to clinch sole possession of another NE8 Championship.  Louisville drops to 1-8.