Box Score ASHLAND – At around halftime of their game Saturday against Eastern Oregon, Southern Oregon University's football coaches learned that the Raiders no longer had a shot at the Frontier Conference's automatic bid to the NAIA Championship Series.

By the end of the game, the 25^th-ranked Raiders' hopes for an at-large bid had been thoroughly dashed too.

Murphy's Law dictated the fourth quarter of SOU's 38-37 loss to the Mountaineers, which was its first setback at Raider Stadium since 2010. EOU (5-5 overall, 5-4 conference) claimed the lead when Jace Billinglsey took a lateral and unloaded a 26-yard touchdown pass to Justin Hernandez with 1 minute, 53 seconds remaining.

The Raiders (6-4, 6-3) were in position to cash in the game-winning points on their next drive behind four straight Austin Dodge (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview) completions, but his last one was fumbled on the Mountaineer 5-yard-line and picked up by Eastern's Tucker Stanley with 38 seconds left.

Sean Tow (Diamond Springs, Calif./Union Mine) netted 125 yards and three touchdowns on 17 rushes to lead the Raiders while Melvin Mason (Vacaville, Calif./Vacaville) carried 18 times for 86 yards.

Mason's only TD of the game, a 1-yard plunge, put the Raiders up 37-24 at the start of the fourth quarter. For the Mountaineers, it took Dominique Blackman's 29-yard TD pass to Alexander Miles on fourth down and a fourth-and-1 stop of SOU on the ensuing possession to set up the game-deciding drive.

Blackman had 78 yards on the ground and tallied 336 passing yards, a season-high, by completing 25 of 42 attempts with one interception. Dodge was picked off three times but went 29-for-42 with 355 yards, hitting Dylan Young (Salem, Ore./North Salem) 11 times for 154 and Jeremy Scottow (Medford, Ore./North Medford) seven times for 84.

Dodge's first TD toss of the game, a 13-yarder to Matt Retzlaff (Medford, Ore./South Medford) in the first quarter, gave him 100 for his SOU career.

Chris McGinnis-Parker carried the load for EOU's rushing game with 19 carries for 108 yards. Billingsley caught 13 balls for 161 yards and a score.

The Mountaineers had lost their last six games against the SOU, including a 73-20 pummeling in La Grande on Sept. 21. They last won at Raider Stadium, 9-3, in 2006.

This one was especially painful for the Raiders, who needed to move up in the rankings in order to position themselves for an at-large postseason berth. The automatic bid disappeared earlier in the day when Carroll College kicked a last-second field goal to defeat Rocky Mountain, 37-35, and clinch their 14^th Frontier championship in the last 15 seasons.

Monti Wilson (San Andreas, Calif./Calaveras) led the Raider defense with nine solo tackles, Laurence Calcagno (Canby, Ore./Canby) had four solo and six assisted and Colton Grimwood (Salem, Ore./South Salem) grabbed their only interception. Sean McShane (El Paso, Texas/Franklin) provided a bright spot on the SOU special teams with 167 return yards, putting the Raiders in Eastern territory on three occasions.

Adam Bese totaled 7.5 tackles for EOU and forced the crucial fumble. Ryan Watson, Gary Posten and Tyson Fernstrom all pocketed interceptions.

The Raiders' season will conclude next Saturday at Montana Tech.