Jones
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
Trevor Jones, center, recovers a fumble as Karrington Jones, right, celebrates.
6
Montana Western UMW 2-5 , 2-4
31
Winner Southern Oregon SOU 6-0 , 5-0
Montana Western UMW
2-5 , 2-4
6
Final
31
Southern Oregon SOU
6-0 , 5-0
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
UMW Montana Western 0 0 0 6 6
SOU Southern Oregon 3 7 7 14 31

Game Recap: Football | | SOU Sports Information

Fifth-ranked Raiders unfazed by Montana Western in 31-6 win

ASHLAND – Following the lead of pretty much every other Southern Oregon opponent, Montana Western attempted to slow the pace of the fifth-ranked Raiders on Saturday afternoon at Raider Stadium.

SOU had waited 67 years to be 6-0 again. A little extra waiting was not a problem.

Flash was minimal, but a final score of 31-6, Raiders over Bulldogs, more than made up for that in the first football game played on the new synthetic Fuller Field turf. Southern Oregon is 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the Frontier Conference with a rematch at fourth-ranked Carroll College (4-1 Frontier) next week looming.

Montana Western (2-5, 2-4) was scoreless for the first 50-plus minutes of the game until packing up a couple of inconsequential field goals to take home, never seriously threatening after Sean Tow (Diamond Springs, Calif./Union Mine)'s second touchdown run made it 17-0 with 3:33 gone in the second half. The Bulldogs were forced to punt five times, lost two fumbles, missed one field goal and had another blocked by Joseph Lealofi (Los Angeles, Calif./Barstow).

SOU's offense was closer to workmanlike than explosive while taking what UMW gave with eight more runs than pass plays. Both of Tow's TD runs spanned one yard – the first on fourth down to make it 10-0 at the start of the second quarter – as he rushed 12 times for 63 yards. Melvin Mason (Vacaville, Calif./Vacaville) had 12 carries for 61 yards, his five-yard burst putting SOU up 24-0 at the start of the fourth quarter, and Keegan Lawrence (Sherwood, Ore./Sherwood)'s eight carries got him 81 yards.

Austin Dodge (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview), one game after throwing six touchdown passes, went 19-for-30 with 259 yards, and didn't punch his first TD pass until reaching Dylan Young (Salem, Ore./North Salem) on an immaculately placed eight-yard fade pass with 7:14 remaining. It was just the second time in SOU's last 32 games that Dodge didn't throw for multiple TDs.

His 63-yard bomb to Young did, however, set up Tow's second one-yard score. Young collected seven passes for 116 yards.

Aldrick Rosas (Orland, Calif./Orland) jump-started the Raiders with a 40-yard field goal that capped their first series.

The 38-30 rush-to-pass discrepancy was easily SOU's largest in favor of the run since 2011.

Neither approach was all that effective for the Bulldogs. Quarterback Tyler Hulse only managed 110 yards on 23 throws and was sacked five times; Laurence Calcagno (Canby, Ore./Canby) had 1 ½, while Heston Altenbach (Coquille, Ore./Coquille), Daniel Abernethy (Fullerton, Calif./Whittier Christian), Kellii Pedillo and Lealofi were credited with one apiece. And on the ground, even though Sam Rutherford gained 117 yards and Hulse gained 85, they still only averaged 3.9 yards on 43 tries.

It was the second time this season the Raiders kept an opponent off the board for the first three quarters in flirting with their first shutout since 2003. Going back to last week's win at Montana State-Northern, they've given up 13 points over the last six quarters.

Altenbach got in on a season-best 12 tackles, Calcagno had eight and Isiah Carter (Las Vegas, Nev./Canyon Springs) had seven. Kellii Pedillo forced a fumble, and Trevor Jones (Folsom, Calif./Folsom) and Le'Dontrae Gooden (Elk Grove, Calif./Cosummes Oaks) both recovered one.

Beau Brekke caught five passes for 69 yards to lead UMW. The Bulldogs threatened with 1st-and-goal once.

The Raiders have now taken five of six in the all-time series.

They'll be shooting for a season sweep of Carroll next week in Helena, Mont. The first matchup between the teams, on Sept. 6 at Ashland High, resulted in a 38-35 SOU win, but the Saints have remained ahead of the Raiders in the NAIA rankings ever since.
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