HAVRE, Mont. – Southern Oregon senior quarterback Austin Dodge (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview) became the NAIA's new career record-holder for touchdown passes and passing yards with five regular-season games to spare Saturday, pushing the seventh-ranked Raiders to a 45-24 win at Montana State-Northern.Dodge completed 22 of 38 passes for six touchdown passes and 417 passing yards at Blue Pony Stadium, bringing his totals to 121 TD throws and 13,461 yards. The previous records were established by Ohio Dominican's Chris Reisert (120; 13,388) in 2008.
The Raiders (5-0 overall) shrugged off a tepid start to improve to 4-0 in the Frontier Conference. They trailed 17-14 until Dodge's 25-yard TD connection with Keegan Lawrence (Sherwood, Ore./Sherwood) put them ahead for good just before halftime.
The Lights dropped to 1-4 overall and 0-4 in the Frontier.
Dodge tied the career mark with a 16-yard pass to Dylan Young (Salem, Ore./North Salem), giving SOU a 38-24 cushion with 7:34 remaining. Appropriately, it was a 45-yard bomb to Sean McShane (El Paso, Texas/Franklin) that blew up the old record with 5:29 left.
Three of Young's five catches went for scores, including a 40-yard shot that that was SOU's first TD and a 56-yarder that gave the Raiders a 28-17 edge in the third quarter. McShane added an 81-yard TD catch in the first quarter and accumulated 151 yards on five catches.
Dodge has thrown six touchdowns or more on four occasions the last two seasons.
Young's nine TD catches lead the NAIA, and he's exceeded 100 receiving yards three times. McShane's had 100-plus in two straight games.
The Raiders kept the Lights at 187 passing yards despite quarterback Travis Dean's 46 attempts. Running back Zach McKinley rushed 38 times for 178 yards.
The Raiders only covered 52 yards on the ground, but they maintained an overall yardage advantage of 469-465 on 39 less plays from scrimmage.
Aldrick Rosas (Orland, Calif./Orland) kicked a 31-yard field goal for a 31-17 SOU lead in the third quarter, though McKinley responded with a two-yard TD run to finish off a 17-play, 75-yards drive for the Lights.
SOU's Heston Altenbach (Coquille, Ore./Coquille), Laurence Calcagno (Canby, Ore./Canby) and Julius Rucker (Portland, Ore./Westview) had 10 tackles each. Six of Altenbach's were of the solo variety.
The Raiders are 8-0 all-time against the Lights.
The Raiders, who have a bye next week before hosting Montana Western on Oct. 11, are the fifth team in program history to start a season with five straight wins.
College of Idaho, 21st-ranked Eastern Oregon and fifth-ranked Carroll are the one-loss teams directly behind SOU in the standings, and the Raiders are responsible for each of those losses. Rocky Mountain, ranked 10th in the latest NAIA poll, was upset at Eastern on Saturday, 27-24.
