Division V Semifinal: R17 South Range (14-0) vs R18 Liberty Center (14-0) at Clyde

Who will advance to the Division V State Championship game?

  • South Range

    Votes: 78 66.7%
  • Liberty Center

    Votes: 39 33.3%

  • Total voters
    117

iam416

Well-known member
Since about midseason (or earlier), we've know who the big boys were in DV. The biggest question in my mind was who would come out of R18. And Liberty Center answered that with authority. No real surprises in the Final Four. Pretty much best on best. As it should be. DV champion will have to earn the crap out of that title.
 
 
South Range has a really good front 7, but I don't think they've played a team with as strong a running game as LC. That's strength on strength.

Other side, South Range is balanced -- they didn't have to be against Perry, but they are. I'm fairly sure they won't run the ball consistently. If they do then LC is in for a lot of trouble.

I honestly don't have a pick, yet.
 
A shame this is the semifinal. According to Fantastic50.net, these are the 2 best teams in D5.

LC fans - how's the teams health?

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I think Pasteur's top 8 in DV were all playing last night. I mean, there were no BIG surprises (Perry beating Garaway and LC obliterating Coldwater were smaller surprises). Like I said, there's no easy path. Best on best. Earn that title.
 
I'm not from Liberty Center, but over the years a lot of people including me has always respected their program. Be ready for an old school, smash mouth, disciplined football team. Watch them warm up, it's like watching early morning routines on a Army base. They are not dirty, they will not do anything stupid. But they are a fit, hard nosed, wing-t fighting machine. Their lines are unforgiving. They will try to maul you. They are fast everywhere. South Range I'm sure is a great team, and I don't know their style. But I know this. Not many kids(on other teams) are prepared for what hits them when playing LC. Their fans are very passionate.
 
I'm not from Liberty Center, but over the years a lot of people including me has always respected their program. Be ready for an old school, smash mouth, disciplined football team. Watch them warm up, it's like watching early morning routines on a Army base. They are not dirty, they will not do anything stupid. But they are a fit, hard nosed, wing-t fighting machine. Their lines are unforgiving. They will try to maul you. They are fast everywhere. South Range I'm sure is a great team, and I don't know their style. But I know this. Not many kids(on other teams) are prepared for what hits them when playing LC. Their fans are very passionate.
I am from Liberty and In my mind i think you nailed it. Without football in our town, there is no town. Even in a down season we are in the stands. Our league started in 1926 and they play today like they did back then, smash mouth style. And sometimes it is our mouth being smashed which is football.
 
This is South Range's and Coach Yeagley's third trip to the State Semi's. The first in 2005 the Raiders lost to eventual State Champion Patrick Henry in a closer game than the final score indicated. The last time was 2017 where SR lost to Eastwood, who lost in the final to Wheelersburg in OT.
Here is to the third time being a charm. It looks like a monster effort will be required once again.
 
This is South Range's and Coach Yeagley's third trip to the State Semi's. The first in 2005 the Raiders lost to eventual State Champion Patrick Henry in a closer game than the final score indicated. The last time was 2017 where SR lost to Eastwood, who lost in the final to Wheelersburg in OT.
Here is to the third time being a charm. It looks like a monster effort will be required once again.
Maybe it was you that nailed it in another thread when you said at this point that none of us truly know the other three teams in the semi-finals. And I can't talk for any other Raider fans, but when your opponent has a state championship trophy in their school trophy case, you know that you are facing a tremendous program. I'm sure both coaching staffs already have scouting material on each other, it will be up to the kids to prepare for the challenge that awaits them.
 
Went to the South Range game last night first time I’ve seen them,i was taken back by how physical,well coached,and fundamentally sound that football team is.it’s gonna take a monumental effort and some sloppy play on South Ranges part for someone to beat them
I was a little surprised they dominated Perry. I thought (and think) Garaway is outstanding on defense. And Perry had way more issues running the ball against SR than they did against Garaway. The South Range front 7 is legit. No team has run the ball on SR or even come close. They are really, really good.

But, like I said, LC is no joke. This will be SR's biggest test by far.
 
I was a little surprised they dominated Perry. I thought (and think) Garaway is outstanding on defense. And Perry had way more issues running the ball against SR than they did against Garaway. The South Range front 7 is legit. No team has run the ball on SR or even come close. They are really, really good.

But, like I said, LC is no joke. This will be SR's biggest test by far.
Kenston played Perry 3rd week of season and we lost to Perry 63 -32,this is a Kenston team that lost to Chardon 2time D3 state champs 10-7,and SR completely dominated Perry I think Perry might have had negative yards in the first half.i have no vested interest in SR I watch a lot of D2 and D3 football this is probably the best team I’ve seen this year
 
Thanks for thoughts. That's awesome.

I try to get a sense of how good SR is by piecing together results. One result I thought was somewhat interesting was when University sort of hung around with Kenston. And SR domianted US from start to finish. It's just one little piece of evidene, but you add it to the pile.

At this point, I'm sold that this is the best team SR has had. The other great teams SR has had there was one or two teams that were just better. Not this year. They may not win it, but they're not taking the field as an underdog against anyone in D5, IMO.
 
Clyde is an interesting choice as a venue. Both sides are very short stands that extend goal line to goal line. I would assume whoever designed this has a very poor understanding of how sight lines work
 

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This is going to be a great game. LC is old school, smash mouth football as mentioned above. The kids eat, breathe, and sleep football. Entering the playoffs, I knew it would come down to them(because of Coldwaters injuries), and either Elmwood or Eastwood in the regional finals. Very tough region to exit from. With that being said, I believe the road for LC ends next Friday. South Range is on a different level.
 
I said it last week and I have not changed my mind. SR has all the ingredients necessary to win a state championship. Good OL, multiple offensive weapons, a fast, swarming defense and good special teams. That does not mean that somebody else remaining does not have better ingredients or that the Raiders will win the title, but SR will be a tough out. Personally, I think SR may be the best team Mooney played this year. Not necessarily the best talent but the best overall team top to bottom in all three phases of the game. Having said all that LC will be a big challenge.

Good luck to both teams.

GO RAIDERS!
 
If Liberty Center plays like they did against Coldwater:

Liberty Center 28
South Range 14

If Liberty Center plays like they did vs Elmwood

South Range 21
Liberty Center 14

LC made some mistakes last night that they typically don't do. They gave Elmwood the ball inside the tiger 30 three times.
 
To add to the "strength vs strength" -- SR gave up 299 yards rushing....in 7 conference games. Total. They've pretty much continued that in the playoffs, although Garfield did have one drive where they were able run effectively enough to go 80 yards in 18 plays or something. I think the only other drive I can remember where a team sort of ran down the field was a drive from Jefferson. That's almost it. A lot of running yards against SR come from QB scrambles. It's been really, really hard to just line up and run on them.

That LC run game vs SR front 7 matchup should be really outstanding.
 
If South Range has weapons anything similar to Elmwood's I think LC is going to struggle again defensively and from the sounds of it SR's defense is legit. Should be a good matchup, as of right now I am taking SR.
 
I'm not from Liberty Center, but over the years a lot of people including me has always respected their program. Be ready for an old school, smash mouth, disciplined football team. Watch them warm up, it's like watching early morning routines on a Army base. They are not dirty, they will not do anything stupid. But they are a fit, hard nosed, wing-t fighting machine. Their lines are unforgiving. They will try to maul you. They are fast everywhere. South Range I'm sure is a great team, and I don't know their style. But I know this. Not many kids(on other teams) are prepared for what hits them when playing LC. Their fans are very passionate.
South Range played Kirtland in the regional semifinals last year and the year before…no disrespect to Liberty Center (I have not seen them play) but South Range already knows what it is like playing against an old school smash mouth team…hopefully for South Range that prior experience helps them out
 
South Range played Kirtland in the regional semifinals last year and the year before…no disrespect to Liberty Center (I have not seen them play) but South Range already knows what it is like playing against an old school smash mouth team…hopefully for South Range that prior experience helps them out
Frankly Kirtland set the bar for South Range. The kids knew what quality of play it would take to win region 17; and part of that credit goes to the Hornets. The Raiders have the utmost respect for the Hornets. The regional final games the past few years with Kirtland helped them last night in a major way. Good luck to Kirtland tonight and hope to see you next Saturday at Raider stadium!
 
Frankly Kirtland set the bar for South Range. The kids knew what quality of play it would take to win region 17; and part of that credit goes to the Hornets. The Raiders have the utmost respect for the Hornets. The regional final games the past few years with Kirtland helped them last night in a major way. Good luck to Kirtland tonight and hope to see you next Saturday at Raider stadium!
Good luck to South Range next week! I hope to have a reason to be at South Range next Saturday😀…but have to get past Mogadore first, which won’t be easy. They play Kirtland tough!
 
Thanks for thoughts. That's awesome.

I try to get a sense of how good SR is by piecing together results. One result I thought was somewhat interesting was when University sort of hung around with Kenston. And SR domianted US from start to finish. It's just one little piece of evidene, but you add it to the pile.

At this point, I'm sold that this is the best team SR has had. The other great teams SR has had there was one or two teams that were just better. Not this year. They may not win it, but they're not taking the field as an underdog against anyone in D5, IMO.
I was just thinking back to the two scrimmages back in August where SR also played very well against two teams that are playing for Regional Titles today. The evidence has been strong all season that it could be a special year, but its been there in past seasons also and yet not ended as the program and fans had hoped.
 
South Range played Kirtland in the regional semifinals last year and the year before…no disrespect to Liberty Center (I have not seen them play) but South Range already knows what it is like playing against an old school smash mouth team…hopefully for South Range that prior experience helps them out
Absolutely it does.
 
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