BOX SCORE

ASHLAND, Ore. – Two weeks after breaking an 0-3 start, the Southern Oregon football team returns home this weekend to host No. 17 Eastern Oregon following back-to-back wins, including a road upset of No. 24 Menlo last Saturday.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Raider Stadium as SOU looks to get back to .500 with a win over the cross-state rival Mountaineers.

The Raiders scored 17 points in the third quarter to pull away to a 31-17 victory over a previously-unbeaten Menlo team last weekend, giving SOU its second consecutive victory. Head football coach Craig Howard praised the play of his team, particularly quarterback Austin Dodge (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview).

“He had the best game he's had all year,” Howard said. “He spread the ball around really well.”

Dodge finished with a pair of touchdown passes in the win, while James Antaplyan (Los Angeles, Calif./Burbank) keyed a defensive effort that limited Menlo to 17 points.

“Antaplyan had a big turnover that set up a score for us,” Howard said. “The defense played extremely well.”

While Howard was impressed by his team's effort over the weekend, he hopes his players can continue to improve as they prepare for a tough matchup with a top-20 team.

“It was great to go down to Menlo and come away with a win,” Howard said. “The boys played well. Now we come back home to play a very good football team in Eastern Oregon.”

Eastern Oregon opened its season with a 31-15 victory over Montana Tech one week after the Diggers defeated SOU 50-47 in double overtime. The Mountaineers followed their season-opening win by shocking top-ranked and defending champion Carroll 41-33 in Helena, Mont., on Sept. 10. The upset earned EOU a spot in the NAIA poll, and back-to-back wins over No. 23 Montana State-Northern and Montana Western pushed the Mountaineers all the way into the top-10 at No. 9.

“We have a big challenge with an offense led by Chris Ware at Eastern Oregon,” Howard said. “They're a good football team, coming in ranked for the first time in 31 years.”

The Mountaineers dropped to No. 17 this week after losing to Rocky Mountain 51-17 at home on Saturday, but EOU will enter Saturday's game with a 4-1 record and plenty of motivation. Ware starts under center and has completed 64.1 percent of his passes for 1,179 yards and 11 touchdowns with five interceptions. He has also rushed for 125 yards and three touchdowns, behind only Kevin Sampson's 581 yards and seven touchdowns on Eastern's squad.

In a rivalry that stretches back to 1930, Southern Oregon has held the advantage through most of that stretch. The Raiders are 44-14-3 all-time against the Mountaineers, with more wins against EOU than against any other opponent. Southern Oregon's longest winning streak in the series was an 11-game stretch between 1958 and 1968, and the Raiders went 17-2-1 against EOU from 1983 to 2003. The Raiders are 3-1 in the last four meetings between the teams, with all three of their wins coming by four or fewer points.

Howard anticipates an exciting contest and a rivalry atmosphere, invoking the name of the state's biggest college football rivalry in comparison.

“It should be a great crowd and a great game,” Howard said. “It's a little Civil War – Eastern against Southern – so get there early so you can get a seat.”