SALEM — Last year, the South Range Raiders and Salem Quakers met for the first time in their school histories, with the Raiders winning convincingly. So, the Quakers were looking to even the series against their neighboring opponent in this go-around. The Raiders had other ideas.

The Raiders showed that they grew tremendously in their week one loss to Lake as they knocked off the Quakers 48-21 to even their record on the season at 1-1. The Quakers fall to 0-2 on the year and also in the series with the Raiders.

“Back-to-back final four teams, and they (South Range) are the winningest team in Ohio the past four years,” Quakers coach Ron Johnson commented on playing Poland and South Range. “They are a great program who have played a lot of football. But we just need to play better.”

“This was a huge win. We talked this week about it being a must-win game for us,” Raiders coach David Rach said. “We also talked a lot about how football is a great teacher in the grand scheme of things, and we knew that we had to recover and rebound from last week.”

Last week, the Quakers were victimized by a running quarterback, but this week, it was the arm of Raiders sophomore signal-caller Nick Toy who scorched the Quakers’ defense with 339 passing yards and four touchdowns. The Raiders also out-rushed the Quakers 171-160 in the contest.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Raiders quarterback Nick Toy said. “I’m proud of my receivers for getting open. That makes it a lot easier for me. They were getting past the defensive backs, catching the ball, and then running after the catch. It was amazing.”

“We certainly have a lot of confidence in Nick, and we know he is a tremendous player,” Rach commented on his young quarterback. “And those guys on the perimeter are pretty good, too. But we want to remain balanced as much as possible.”

The Raiders wasted no time in seizing the momentum in the game as they scored on three of their first four possessions. But it may have been their defense that landed the knockout blow when they picked off the Quakers and returned it for a touchdown early in the second quarter to grab a commanding 28-0 advantage.

“I think all three phases,” Rach said. “We were really unhappy with the way we performed on special teams last week. It’s hard to play on offense and defense when your opponent is playing downhill.”

The Raiders scored on a 17-yard pass from Toy to Gavin Hiscox at the 7:25 mark of the first quarter on their opening possession, followed by a 15-yard pass to Tommy Valentine with 1:49 left in the frame on their third drive. Jason Vorshak hauled in a 33-yard toss with just 3 ticks remaining in the quarter to push the Raiders’ lead to 21-0.

Following that score, the Raiders’ defense came up with an interception with Vorshak returning the ball down the right sideline to push the Raiders’ lead to 28-0. That score came with 10:12 left in the quarter.

“It comes down to turning the ball over, which we did in a couple of scoring opportunities. And they took advantage of it with the pick-six,” Johnson said. “They play so forward on defense that you have bad number match-up in the box on every snap.”

The Quakers finally came to life midway through the stanza as they connected on a lateral pass for a 75-yard gain. Quarterback Cletis Monroy hit Owen Davidson in the right flat for about ten yards when he pitched the ball to Bairon Exline, who raced to the Raiders’ 12. From there, Monroy scored on a 12-yard jaunt to make it 28-7 with 5:28 before halftime.

However, the Raiders answered as Valentine scored on the ground this time with a 2-yard blast to put the Raiders back up by 28, at 35-7 with 1:18 remaining in the half. That Raiders drive ate up 90 yards on 9 plays.

“They are multi-dimensional,” Johnson said on the challenge that the Raiders presented. “They can run it, they can throw it. They can throw it deep or throw it underneath and break tackles. They are a good football team.”

The Raiders activated the running clock rule early in the second half as they scored on their second play from scrimmage. Toy connected with Tommy Titus, who raced into the endzone for a 51-yard scoring strike. That pushed the Raiders’ advantage to 42-7 just 41 seconds into the half.

The two teams answered each other as the Quakers scored on an 8-yard run by Exline with just 1:31 remaining in the quarter, followed by another touchdown run by Valentine for the Raiders with 8:10 left in the contest. Valentine’s run would cover 5 yards.

“We kept doing what we are supposed to do,” Toy said. “We did the little things right tonight, and we kept coming to practice every day this week, trying to get better.”

The two teams would also exchange late-game interceptions before the Quakers scored on a 28-yard pass from Monroy to Exline to reach the final 48-21 margin. The final score came with just 2:23 remaining in the game.

“Again, I don’t question our effort,” Johnson remarked about his team. “We did some things well, but we have a lot of work to do. We have a huge rivalry game next week.”

The Raiders will be on the road again next Friday as they travel to Barberton to take on the Magics in another non-conference game. The Quakers will also be on the road next Friday as they travel to their Columbiana County rival East Liverpool in their next game.

Game notes

• The Quaker’s student section was wearing white for the game in honor of Tusky Valley player Mason White who was paralyzed as a result of an injury in a game last week.

• The series between the Raiders and Quakers will not be renewed next year. With the addition of Howland into the Eastern Buckeye Conference coach Johnson said it has thrown their scheduling out of whack.

SR: 21-14-7-7–48

SA: 0- 7-7-7–21

SCORING

SR – Gavin Hiscox 17 pass from Nick Toy (Drew Starkey Kick)

SR – Tommy Valentine 15 pass from Toy (Kick Failed)

SR – Jason Vorshak 33 pass from Toy (James Dysert pass from Toy)

SR – Vorshak 32 interception return (Starkey Kick)

SA – Cletis Monroy 12 run (Gerson Samayoa Kick)

SR – Valentine 2 run (Starkey Kick)

SR – Tommy Titus 51 pass from Toy (Starkey Kick)

SA – Bairon Exline 8 run (Samayoa Kick)

SR – Valentine 5 run (Kick Blocked)

SA – Exline 28 pass from Monroy (Samayoa Kick)

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SR SA

First downs 19 13

Total Yards 510 345

Rushes-yards 32-171 31-160

Passing 339 185

Comp-Att-Int 12-16-1 8-18-2

Punts 1-42 3-30

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-0

Penalties-Yards 15-145 10-90

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INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING– South Range, Jason Vorshak 9-85, Drew Starkey 8-38; Salem, Cletis Monroy 12-92, Brandon Kana 17-64.

PASSING– South Range, Nick Toy 12-16-339-4-1; Salem, Cletis Monroy 8-18-185-1-2.

RECEIVING– South Range, Tommy Valentine 3-94, Tommy Titus 4-92, Gavin Hiscox 3-48, CollinKay 1-41, Jason Vorshak 1-33, James Dysert 1-31; SALEM, Bairon Exline 4-115, Will Harmon 1-31, Mackston Ellis 2-21, Zavier Kinsey 1-18

INTERCEPTIONS – South Range, Vorshak, Vincent Pulido; Salem, Joshua Mayhew.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES – Salem, Monroy.