An up-and-down 2008 season will come to a close Saturday at Eastern Oregon for the Southern Oregon football team, but that doesn't take away the importance of the final game.

The Raiders (3-6) and Mountaineers (4-6) kickoff at Noon.

“We look at this a chance for the first win of next year,” SOU Head Coach Steve Helminiak said. “We try to build on this game. We want to end on a positive and begin to build for next year.”

After winning back-to-back games, the Raiders ran into trouble early last week at NCAA Division I South Dakota and fell 37-0 to the Coyotes.

“Three turnovers right in a row to start the game says it all,” Helminiak said. “Once we settled down and started playing some football we did alright, but it was too late.”

Eastern Oregon comes into the game on a two-game losing streak after falling to Rocky Mountain and top-ranked Carroll College. One highlight for 2008 for the Mountaineers was an impressive 42-14 home victory over Montana State-Northern.

“They are going to be a typical Eastern team,” Helminiak said. “They are going to play hard and create opportunities. They force turnovers and make big plays on special teams and rally around that. If you don't line up and play, they will beat you.”

The Mountaineers have stars on both sides of the ball. Seath Kimball and Chris Ware both rank in the top 13 in the Nation in tackles-for-loss and quarterback Chris Ware averages 223 yards per-game in the air and 41 yards-per-game on the ground.

For the Raiders, SOU senior running back Marlon Rosales (San Jose, Calif./Santa Teresa) needs 108 yards to go over 1,000 for the season. If he does go over 1,000 yards, it will mark the first time since Dusty McGrorty went over 1,000 from 2000-03 that a Raider running back has achieved the milestone.

Saturday will also mark the end for 18 SOU seniors. Of the 18 seniors on the roster, 14 will graduate either this June or next year.

“What makes this special is the type of person and player they've become since they've been here,” Helminiak said. “They represent this program, the University and the community really well.”