Box Score PHOTO GALLERY

ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon football team set new program records for points against a college opponent, passing offense and total offense as the Raiders dominated archrival No. 24 Eastern Oregon 68-22 Saturday afternoon at Raider Stadium.

Southern Oregon improves to 3-2 with the win, while Eastern Oregon falls to 2-3. The Raiders return to action next weekend, when they will travel to Montana for a Frontier Conference road game against Montana State-Northern.

The Raiders' 68 points marked the most ever against a college opponent, beating the 66 SOU scored in a 1990 win over Eastern Oregon. A 70-point outing against Moffett Air Force Base in 1964 stands as the only time the Raiders have scored more than the 68 totaled Saturday. Southern Oregon's 706 yards of total offense marked the first time the team has ever surpassed the 700 mark. The previous program record was 691 yards in the 1991 game against EOU.

As amazing as the game totals were, the first half stands as even more impressive. Southern Oregon scored 51 points before halftime and totaled 539 yards on 48 plays. Quarterback Austin Dodge (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview) tallied an astounding 468 passing yards in the first half alone, completing 23 of 30 pass attempts with five touchdowns in the game's first 30 minutes before taking a seat on the bench for the remainder of the contest.

Dodge's 468 passing yards were a career-best total and stand as the fourth-best single-game mark in SOU history. He threw touchdown passes to four different receivers, and three reached 100 yards receiving prior to halftime. Patrick Donahue (Los Angeles, Calif./Franklin) led SOU with eight catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns, with seven of those catches coming in the first half.

Twelve players caught passes from Dodge and backup Chris Kammel (Medford, Ore./Phoenix), who completed 16 of 19 second-half passes for 143 yards and a touchdown. Southern Oregon's 611 total passing yards marked a new program record and stand 26 yards shy of the NAIA single-game record.

Eastern Oregon compiled 347 yards, led by 224 passing yards by quarterback Jason Simonis on 22-of-34 passing with one touchdown and two interceptions. The Mountaineers turned the ball over four times, compared to the Raiders' zero turnovers. Southern Oregon finished with 35 first downs, while EOU tallied 17. The Raiders' first 11 drives resulted in nine touchdowns and two field goals, and they did not punt for the first time until midway through the fourth quarter.

Howard McDonald finished with a game-high 10.5 tackles, including two for loss, while Marquice O'Leary (Fontana, Calif./Etiwanda) led SOU with seven total tackles and added an interception.

Manny Barragan (Yreka, Calif./Yreka) capped the Raiders' first possession with a nine-yard touchdown run to finish off a 92-yard drive. A.J. Herlitz (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay) caught Dodge's first touchdown pass late in the first quarter to make it 14-0, and Josh Leff (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente) intercepted a Simonis pass at the EOU 18-yard line and took it back for a pick-six.

Eastern Oregon got on the board 13 seconds into the second quarter when Simonis ran it in from 18 yards out to finish a 75-yard drive. Colin Amsler (Stevenson Ranch, Calif./West Ranch) hit a 35-yard field goal on the Raiders' next possession to make it 24-7, and SOU's next four drives ended with long touchdown passes. Dodge found tight end Clay Sierra (La Crescenta, Calif./Crescenta Valley) in the seam and Sierra broke through the EOU defense for an 85-yard touchdown. Cole McKenzie (Red Bluff, Calif./Red Bluff) was next up for SOU, catching a 73-yard scoring pass before Donahue closed out the half for the Raiders with 29-yard and 21-yard touchdown receptions.

Zach Marshall (Camas, Wash./Camas) scored from 11 yards out to open the second half before Simonis found Kendrick Starr for a 22-yard scoring pass that made it 58-14. Amsler made his second field goal of the game on SOU's next possession, and the Raiders' concluded their scoring for the day when Kammel hit Jeremy Scottow (Medford, Ore./North Medford) from 10 yards out with 10 minutes remaining in the final quarter. Eastern Oregon reached 20 points in the waning seconds with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Ray Walser to Justin Reynolds, and a run by Levi Elsberry picked up the two-point conversion.

The win marked SOU's fourth straight victory against rival Eastern Oregon and the second straight time the Raiders have upset a ranked Mountaineers squad. The two teams will face off once more this season, when SOU travels to La Grande for a Frontier Conference matchup on Nov. 3.