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South Range’s Blake Ewert runs for 169 yards and three touchdowns against Perry on Friday. (Special to the Journal/Brian Yauger)

BURTON — In a battle of sharpshooters, the South Range Raiders prevailed.

Their high-powered offense continued its reign of terror Friday on the icy field at Great Lakes Cheese Stadium as second-ranked South Range dispatched Perry, 49-21, in the Division V, Region 17 final.

The win gives the Raiders their third appearance in the state semifinals, the first two coming in 2005 and 2017.

South Range will play fourth-ranked Liberty Center in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. next Friday at Clyde High School.

Liberty Center advanced to its seventh state semifinal by downing No. 12 Bloomdale Elmwood, 49-38, on Friday. Liberty Center won the state title in 1997 and was runner-up in 1993 and 1998.

While it’s on to the next one, as it has been for the past 14 weeks, South Range coach Dan Yeagley hopes the team is able to reflect on their achievements.

“We don’t absorb the moment so much. I mean we can’t, we have to keep concentrating, have to think about the next game.” Yeagley said. “I hope these guys sit back and realize what they’ve just done. We got to the semi-finals, did a good job and I’m very proud of those kids.

“These seniors have fought for four years to get to this point and we’re here. A lot of fun. Good game. It’s a great ball team. It was crazy at first, everything went over the top. Our team settled down and got into the groove and thank God. Like I said, I’m very proud of them.”

It took until the final minute of the first quarter for either team to score, but running back Blake Ewert crossed the goal line on a 3-yard rush to put the Raiders up 7-0.

Ewert himself had a fight, as it wouldn’t be the only time he hit the purple end zone grass. Ewert crossed the goal line three times and rushed for 169 yards for South Range.

The junior has battled the injury bug this season, but he shined when it counted on Friday.

“It’s the little things he’s done now,” Yeagley said. “He got hurt there for a little while, and he took time to get healthy, and boy, he came back with a vengeance. He did a good job tonight.”

The Raiders continued to pound the rock for the rest of the first half, going into the locker room up 21-0. Ewert scored his second touchdown of the night from 30 yards out, then quarterback Billy Skripac bounced in from a yard out.

South Range should receive the opening kick but fumbled the ball and it was recovered by the Pirates.

They capitalized on the opportunity when Brayden Richards drove down the field to score. The Raiders didn’t take it too well, but 20 seconds later, Ewert somehow eluded a bunch of Pirates and burst off for 65 yards and the score.

The Raiders tacked on two more scores in the third quarter 13 seconds apart. Right after Aidan Dominguez tore through the defense for a 23-yard rushing touchdown, Perry fumbled the ensuing kickoff.

Then on the next play, Skripac hit a wide open JD Crouse for a 40-yard score.

Perry scored again before the Raiders ended the game with a second Dominguez touchdown.

South Range is back to thinking about the next one as the Raiders will spend the Thanksgiving week getting ready for their last four tilt against the Liberty Center.

“We’re going to practice on Thanksgiving morning, and there’s nothing better than practicing on Thanksgiving morning,” Yeagley said. “We’re going to have some fun and we talked to them at halftime and said we’ve got to clear some things up. We are not sharp and clean as we need to be to keep going to the next level. We have to refocus and do some things there, but like I said, I’m so proud of this team and again, it was a total team effort.

“These guys are family. They really are. They fight for each other and believe in each other, and that’s who they play for.”

PERRY: 0- 0-14-7-21

SOUTH ROW: 7-14-21-7–49

SCORING

SR – Blake Ewert 3 run (Logan Butcher kick)

SR – Blake Ewert 30 run (Logan Butcher kick)

SR – Billy Skripac 1 run (Logan Butcher kick)

P–Brayden Richards 6 run (Hubert Oryniak kick)

SR – Blake Ewert 65 run (Logan Butcher kick)

SR – Aidan Dominguez 23 run (Logan Butcher kick)

SR–JD Crouse 43 pass from Billy Skripac (Logan Butcher kick)

P–Owen McKoon 7 pass from Walter Moses (Hubert Oryniak kick)

SR – Aidan Dominguez 13 run (Logan Butcher kick)

P–Jayden Studio 4 run (Hubert Oryniak kick)

——

P SR

First down 12 22

Total yards 147,377

Rushing yards 28-81 43-297

Passed 66 80

Comp-Att-Int 5-11-2 4-7-0

Points 4-27,3 1-51

Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0

Penalties-Yards 2-30 6-65

——

SOME EXECUTIVES

RUSHING–Perry, Brayden Richards 19-91, Jaden Hacking 1-12, Owen McKoon 4-5, Jayden Studio 2-2, Walter Moses 2-(minus 29); South Range, Blake Ewert 16-169, Aidan Dominguez 14-82, Billy Skripac 8-29, Jake Starkey 4-22, Shane Lindstrom 1-(minus 5).

PASSING–Perry, Walter Moses 5-9-66-2, Brayden Richards 0-2-0-0; South Range, Billy Skripac 4-7-80-0.

RECEIVING–Perry, Jayden Studio 3-26, Jaden Hacking 1-33, Owen McKoon 1-7; South Range, Shane Lindstrom 2-36, JD Crouse 1-43, Tyler Remish 1-9, Jake Starkey 1-2.

INTERSECTIONS–Perry, ; South Range, Landon Moore, Tristan Toy.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES—South Range, Tyler Remish, Joey Plunkett.