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Raiders still loaded

GREENFORD — Going into this season, the one question about the Raiders was how well they could replace four of five starting offensive linemen. If their season-opening game is any indication, they should be just fine.

The Raiders scored on their first six possessions of the game as they rolled over the Springfield Tigers 37-7 in Thursday’s season opener.

Three of the Raiders’ scoring drives only took four plays or less as they utilized a quick striking offense to jump out to a 21-0 lead and a 28-7 advantage at halftime.

Those quick strikes came on a 67-yard pass and a 50-yard run play by senior wideout Shane Lindstrom. He totaled 128 yards.

“This was huge,” Lindstrom exclaimed. “I’m never going to forget this game and I know none of the other seniors are going to forget it. Springfield fought hard and hats off to them. You always want to beat your rival and we were fortunate enough to experience it tonight.”

“We have that capability,” Raiders coach Dan Yeagley said. “We had it last year, and those guys are back. Billy (Skripac) can make things happen and Shane is always there. He is dynamic. And then Ayden (Leon), too. And then we have J.D. (Crouse) also. We had a nice trio going on tonight.”

The Raiders’ first score came on a 20-yard run by Blake Ewert with 3:15 remaining in the first quarter. That score was set up by a big 55-yard pass from quarterback Billy Skripac to Ayden Leon down to the Tigers’ 20.

Lindstrom then added his 67-yard score at the 0:58 mark of the first frame, followed by a 5-yard run by Tyler Remish with 8:02 left in the second quarter to push the Raiders’ lead out to 21-0.

“Billy has that trust in me, and I have that trust in him and our offensive line and coaches. It just shows our chemistry. I wouldn’t have scored if it was for JD (Crouse) and Ayden (Leon) blocking downfield for me,” Lindstrom said. “It’s a collective team effort.

But the Tigers answered with an impressive drive to cut the deficit to 14-points when they marched 53-yards on 11 plays with Kaesen Kosek scoring on a 4-yard scamper with 2:49 remaining in the first half. Kosek led the Tigers with 38 rushing yards on the night.

“I told our team that we might take some lumps. South Range is a great football team and Dan (Yeagley) does a great job. He has those kids rolling right now,” Tigers coach Sean Guerriero said. “We had a lot of positives. But we also had a lot of negatives, and those negatives outweighed us tonight.”

The Raider’s quick-strike offense capitalized again with Lindstrom catching a short curl route and racing down the sideline 50 yards for another touchdown just before halftime. That gave the Raiders a 28-7 lead at the intermission.

“Billy had time to throw. That is huge. He was able to hit those passes because he wasn’t getting pressured. If we have that kind of time our guys can get open,” Yeagley praised his offensive line. “And running the ball. We ran the ball well. Give credit where credit is due. It was the offensive line that did a great job tonight.”

The Raiders picked right up where they left off when they took the second-half kick-off and marched 56 yards on eight plays with Ewert scoring his second touchdown. This time it was a 7-yard run as they went up 35-7 with 7:37 left in the third quarter.

If a quick strike offense wasn’t enough for opponents to worry about, the Raiders also showed that they have a solid weapon in the kicking game too. With just 49-second remaining in the third quarter, sophomore Luke Starkey booted a 43-yard field goal that would have cleared 50 yards to make it the final 37-7 score.

“We just have to make sure that we keep pushing,” Guerriero said. “We can’t come in tomorrow with our heads down. We have to make sure we get back after it and play Springfield football.”

The Raiders look to keep things rolling next week when they travel to Hunting Valley to face The University School Preppers at 5 p.m. Friday.

The Tigers will look to rebound as they host another tough opponent in the Brookfield Warriors, also on Friday.

SPRINGFIELD: 0- 7-0-0– 7

SOUTH RANGE: 14-14-9-0–37

SCORING

SR-Blake Ewert 20 run (Luke Starkey kick)

SR-Shane Lindstrom 67 pass From Billy Skripac (Starkey kick)

SR-Tyler Remish 5 run (Starkey kick)

SP – Kaesen Kosek 4 run (Kosek kick)

SR-Lindstrom 50 pass from Skripac (Starkey kick)

SR-Ewert 7 run (kick failed)

SR-Starkey 43 field goal

——

SL SR

First downs 10 16

Total Yards 120 328

Rushes-yards 35-74 29-147

Passing 46 181

Comp-Att-Int 7-14-1 9-12-0

Punts 4-27 0-0

Fumbles-Lost 2-0 2-1

Penalties-Yards 1-15 3-45

——

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING–Springfield, Keasen Kosek 13-38, Ryan Carcelli 13-28; South Range, Blake Ewert 5-60, Hunter Knauf 5-38, Tyler Remish 7-29.

PASSING–Springfield, Kolten Ruark 7-13-46-0-2, Kaesen Kosek 0-1-0-0-0; South Range, Billy Skripac 7-9-201-2-0, Tristan Toy 1-1-9-0-0, Jimmy Powell 1-1-14-0-0.

RECEIVING–Springfield, Seandelle Gardner 4-29, Michael LaCivita 1-10, Sean Guerriero 1-4, Ryan Carcelli 1-3; South Range, Shane Lindstrom 3-128, Ayden Leon 2-58, J.D. Crouse 1-22.

INTERCEPTIONS – Springfield, Dylan Sheely.

FUMBLES – South Range, Gavin Nagy.

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