Young
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
45
Winner Southern Oregon SOU 9-1 , 8-1
33
Montana Tech MTT 1-8 , 1-8
Winner
Southern Oregon SOU
9-1 , 8-1
45
Final
33
Montana Tech MTT
1-8 , 1-8
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
SOU Southern Oregon 7 21 3 14 45
MTT Montana Tech 14 0 6 13 33

Game Recap: Football | | SOU Sports Information

Retzlaff, Young lead No. 5 SOU to 45-33 win at Montana Tech

This story has been corrected to reflect statistics that have been corrected since Saturday. The original story had Ryan Retzlaff (Medford, Ore./South Medford) catching a 97-yard TD pass to break a school record, but that pass was actually three yards.

BUTTE, Mont. – The fifth-ranked Southern Oregon University football team escaped early trouble Saturday afternoon with the help of receiver Dylan Young (Salem, Ore./North Salem)'s milestone day, toppling Montana Tech 45-33 at Alumni Coliseum.

The Raiders (9-1 overall, 8-1 Frontier Conference) matched three other SOU squads for the program record for wins in a season. They'll try to replace it, and clinch at least a share of their second Frontier title in two years, next Saturday in the final game of the regular season against Eastern Oregon at Raider Stadium.

Montana Tech (1-9) staked to a quick 14-0 lead with 2:50 left in the first quarter. It was swiftly erased. Austin Dodge (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview) connected with Young for a 31-yard touchdown less than two minutes later, and on the next possession the duo connected for a 56-yard score that tied the game.

Young, a senior who transferred to SOU before last season, tied Martin Turner's 31-year-old program record of 28 TD catches for a career. He has 17this season, including six in the last three weeks, which is one away from tying the single-season SOU record.

Against the Orediggers Young caught six passes for 182 yards – putting him over 160 for the third straight week – and Ryan Retzlaff (Medford, Ore./South Medford) caught seven passes for 128 yards, including TDs of 72 and three yards in the fourth quarter. The latter grab put the Raiders up 45-26 with 3:01 left.

Dodge completed 27 of 38 passes for 403 yards and four touchdowns. It was his sixth game this season with four TD passes or more.

SOU went into halftime leading 28-14 following Melvin Mason (Vacaville, Calif./Vacaville)'s one-yard TD run, and Montana Tech never got closer than two scores out in the second half.

It was Joseph Lealofi (Los Angeles, Calif./Barstow)'s 56-yard fumble return after Kellii Pedillo's sack that initially put the Raiders up, 21-14, midway through the second quarter.

Julius Rucker (Portland, Ore./Westview) grabbed his third interception of the season and had a team-high 11 tackles. Karrington Jones (Los Angeles, Calif./West Adams Prep) claimed SOU's other interception of Tech quarterback Dawson Reardon, who went 18-for-31 with 241 yards and a pair of TD passes.

Isiah Carter (Las Vegas, Nev./Canyon Springs) forced a fumble for SOU, which was also recovered by Lealofi in Raider territory. Carter and Laurence Calcagno (Canby, Ore./Canby) were both in on 10 tackles.

Tech's Pat Hansen rushed 29 times for 169 yards and a touchdown. The Orediggers have lost eight straight games and have had leads in the last five of them.

Sean Tow (Diamond Springs, Calif./Union Mine) had 17 carries for 73 yards to lead the SOU ground game. The Raiders totaled 495 yards, and Tech had 513.

The Raiders remain tied in first place with second-ranked Carroll, which was a 27-10 winner Saturday against Rocky Mountain. Carroll closes its regular-season slate with College of Idaho next week.

SOU is likely to move up in the NAIA rankings that will be released Monday due to fourth-ranked Faulkner's 30-21 loss at 25th-ranked Campbellsville. The NAIA Championship Series pairings will be released next Sunday, and SOU will be in favorable position to host a first-round (Nov. 22) game if it can defeat Eastern Oregon.
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