The Herald-Zeitung

The Smithson Valley Rangers made the Friday before Halloween a nightmare for the Lee Volunteers, capitalizing on numerous mistakes by the Vols to cruise to a 58-28 win.

After some special teams fireworks in the first-half, the Rangers exploded for 24 third-quarter points to land themselves squarely in the middle of a muddled playoff race in District 26-5A.

By beating last-place Lee (1-8, 0-7) in their final regular season game at Ranger Stadium, Smithson Valley (6-3, 5-2) remains alive for a share of the district title and can control its own playoff destiny with a win next week against Roosevelt.

“We did what we needed to do tonight,” said Rangers Coach Larry Hill. “We needed to play well and get a win to keep in the playoff race, and were able to go out and execute.”

Junior Matt Hilston ran for a score, caught a touchdown and ran back a kickoff to lead the Rangers to the win, although things didn’t look good early on for Smithson Valley against the fired-up Volunteers.

The Rangers fumbled on the first play from scrimmage and Lee turned around and scored on a 9-yard run by Noel Miller on fourth down to give Lee an early 7-0 lead.

But special teams were a disaster for the Volunteers all night, and it began with the ensuing short kickoff that Smithson Valley’s Parker Taylor ran back 52-yards to tie the game at seven. Lee again took the lead on a pass from Gabriel Rangel to Miller late in the first quarter, but another short kickoff led to another touchdown — this time with Hilston returning the kick 69 yards for the score.

Lee’s kicking woes and problems with long-snapping continued to plague the Volunteers all night, leading to short fields and easy points for Smithson Valley the rest of the way. Volunteer coach Jimmy Ramos chalked it up to injuries, as the team was missing both its long-snappers and its starting punter.

“You always underestimate the value of a deep-snapper,” he said. “We make a couple of plays on special teams, and we’re winning at halftime.”

But it was the Rangers who made the big plays the rest of the game, scoring on a 29-yard run by Robby Mecke and five-yard score by Hilston to lead 27-14 at half.

After the second of three turnovers on special teams by the Volunteers, Mecke scored again from 10 yards out. On the Rangers’ next possession, a 43-yard strike from Parker McKenzie to Hilston put the game out of reach.

Miller and running back Richard Jordan turned in gutsy performances for the Volunteers in the loss. Miller scored three touchdowns, one rushing and two receiving, while Jordan finished the game with 188 yards on 28 carries.

The Rangers now can make a run for the playoffs with a win next week.

“We’re right in there with a chance at a district championship,” Hill said. “Now we’ve got to keep working hard.”