Without a starting quarterback and in the midst of a two-game losing streak, the Southern Oregon football team will look to put all that behind as they host Western Oregon Saturday afternoon at Raiders Stadium.

The NAIA Raiders (2-2) and NCAA Division II Wolves (2-2) kickoff at 1 p.m.

"Every game on our schedule is still winnable," SOU head coach Steve Helminiak said. "We have to play our level and not play to the other team's level. If we play to our potential, we have a great chance to win every game on our schedule. We are 2-2, not 0-4. We still have a great chance to make a run for the postseason."

After starting the season 2-0 and earning the program's first Top 25 ranking during Helminiak's tenure as head coach, the Raiders fell on the road to Willamette and then dropped a heartbreaker at home last week to Menlo (20-13).

Last week also brought a setback of a different kind as junior quarterback Mike McDonald (Burbank, Calif./Burbank) - who at the time ranked fifth in the NAIA in passing - suffered a season-ending injury in the first quarter.

With McDonald out, junior Paul Sweeney (South San Francisco, Calif./Sared Heart Cathedral) is now the starting quarterback. Sweeney started most of 2009 for the Raiders.

"It's a plus that Paul has some college experience and got a lot of snaps last year," Helminiak said. "He's a different guy this year and has had a great week of practice."

Sweeney will have a pair of impressive weapons at his disposal. Senior receiver Vance Beach (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson) ranks in the top 15 in the NAIA in the following categories: all purpose yards (12th/639), all purpose per game (13th/159.8), catches per game (14th/5.8), receiving yards per game (14th/97.3), receiving yards (14th/389) and catches (15th/23). Junior running back Brandon Baldwin (Palo Cedro, Calif./Foothill) ranks 13th with 407 yards.

Defensively, the Raiders look to rally around their best performance of the year.

Senior linebacker JT Gilmore (West Covina, Calif./Taft) earned NAIA Independent Defensive Player of the Week after recording 14 tackles, three tackles-for-loss and 2.5 sacks.

Senior defensive end Jarrod Moroni (Eugene, Ore./South Eugene) ranks eighth in tackles for loss with seven and 10th in sacks with four.

"They completely shut down the run," Helminiak said of his defense. "They played lights out and their effort was fantastic. They are only going to get better and will keep us in games."

The NCAA Division II Wolves are coming off their second loss of the season, a 14-7 setback at home to Humboldt State last weekend.

Western turned the ball over twice in the red zone and also had a field goal blocked in the game. Darryl Valdez led the WOU offense with 77 rushing yards. The Wolves had trouble throwing the ball, completing just 11 of 30 passes for 126 yards. Defensively, Gerritt Vincent and Sherman Vercher both had double-digit tackles. Vincent had 12 stops and Vercher finished with 10 tackles.

Western has defeated Simon Fraser twice this year and also loss to NCAA Division I Sacramento State earlier in the season.