Staff photo / Brian Yauger South Range senior Aidan Dominguez, center, runs for a gain during the Raiders’ Division V state semifinal contest with Liberty Center in Parma. Dominguez scored the team’s first touchdown on Friday.

PARMA — Scores came in chunks during Friday’s Division V state semifinal between South Range and Liberty Center.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, the largest chunk came from Liberty Center.

South Range’s season comes to an end in a 48-14 defeat and Liberty Center avenged its loss to South Range in this same game two years ago.

“That team’s really good,” Raiders coach David Rach said. “They’re as good as they advertised in all three phases of the game. They’re really good. They’re really well coached. They play hard and long. I mean, they’re gonna be tough for somebody to beat.”

The Tigers exploded out of the gates, scoring a pair of touchdowns in the opening five minutes of the contest.

South Range didn’t back down after falling in that early hole however. The Raiders drove down the field, with Aidan Dominguez punching the ball in from a yard out to give South Range its first points of the game.

Not long after that, senior Dylan Smesko broke off for a 49-yard rush, quickly knotting the game up at 14.

But as quickly as South Range was able to tie the game back up at 14, the Tigers were able to pull back away.

The backbreaker came at the end of the first half, as the Tigers scored three touchdowns in the final two-and-a-half minutes to turn a 14-14 deadlock into a 34-14 Liberty Center lead in the blink of an eye.

Two of those scores came off of turnovers, a Tristan Toy interception and Dominguez fumble.

“The game got away from us in the second quarter there,” Rach said. “We rallied back from down 14 and we had a couple turnovers, and they made us pay for them. That’s what great teams do. You’ve got to play. We knew coming in, we had to play really great against them. They’re good.”

The South Range seniors end their high school careers as the winningest group in program history. With a record of 55-4, the seniors are leaving a legacy that extends both on and off the field.

“(When people look back on this team, I hope people remember) the character of our kids and the character of our senior group,” Rach said. “The selfless way they went about their business is first class, on and off the field, and I couldn’t be more proud of those guys.”

The program bids farewell to players like Dominguez, Toy, Smesko, Gaven Nagy and Luke Starkey.

“I’m gonna miss those guys and what they mean to our program and what they mean to our community,” Rach said. “Nobody’s done it better. They’re the winningest class in South Range history. I think everyone’s goal is to leave something better than you found it, and they’ve done that for sure, perfectly.”