griffin
Photo courtesy of Wally Feldt.
30
Southern Oregon SOU 4-1 , 4-1
30
Montana Western UMW 3-2 , 3-2
Southern Oregon SOU
4-1 , 4-1
30
Final
30
Montana Western UMW
3-2 , 3-2
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT F
SOU Southern Oregon 7 7 9 7 0 30
UMW Montana Western 7 10 6 7 0 30

Game Recap: Football | | SOU Sports Information

Raiders survive No. 16 Montana Western in OT, 37-30

DILLON, Mont. – Montana Western entered Saturday afternoon's Frontier Conference battle for first place with the top defense in the NAIA, but Southern Oregon's defense made the plays that helped the second-ranked Raiders steal a 37-30 overtime win at Vigilante Field.

Sean Tow's third touchdown of the game, an eight-yard rush on the first possession of overtime, broke a 30-all tie and held up as the game-winner. But only because the Raiders (4-1 Frontier Conference), after conceding a 24-yard pass on the first play of UMW's ensuing possession, made four consecutive goal-line stops to seal the outcome.

The Raiders have won four straight since a season-opening loss at Carroll, with a rematch against the Saints next Saturday in Ashland looming. They'd lost their previous five games in OT, though they hadn't ventured past regulation since the 2012 NAIA quarterfinals.

The victory was also SOU's first against a ranked opponent on the road in a Frontier contest since they joined the conference in 2012.

The 16th-ranked Bulldogs (3-2) came into the day locked in a four-way tie for first place with SOU, Carroll and Montana Tech. Carroll also fell from the top with a 28-21 home loss to Eastern Oregon.

UMW was in position to win on the shoulders of freshman quarterback JD Ferris, whose breakout day resulted in a 27-for-51, 371-yard line. It was Ferris, however, who was stuffed three straight times from the 1-yard line on UMW's OT possession – first by Joseph Lealofi, then by Mylz Blake, and finally by Devvon Gage for a one-yard loss. His fourth-down pass from the 2 then fell incomplete.

Ferris also made two critical mistakes that Karrington Jones jumped on for his third and fourth interceptions of the season.

Jones' initial pick was snagged for a touchback during the first quarter. Trailing 17-14, the Raiders got another key stop less than a minute before halftime as UMW was denied on 4th-and-1 while threatening to go up by two scores just 11 yards from the end zone.

SOU received solid quarterback play from both Tanner Trosin and Kamerun Smith: Trosin completed 11 of 15 attempts for 175 passing yards and 59 more on the ground, and Smith went 14-for-24 with 140 yards. The Raiders rushed 44 times for 259 yards, led by Tow's 115 on eight carries.

The Raiders tied it at 17-all on their first possession of the third quarter, when two 29-yard passes from Trosin to Adonis Griffin set up Marcus Montano's 30-yard field goal. The sequence was part of a career day for Griffin, who made six catches for 138 yards.

Smith went 4-for-5 for 76 yards on SOU's next drive, including a 36-yard toss to Dominic Giampaoli, to set up Melvin Mason's one-yard TD dive that made it 23-17 with 5:52 left in the third. The Bulldogs answered immediately with a 75-yard TD drive capped by Dylan Kramer's seven-yard rush that left the scored tied again, 23-all, after Blake blocked the point-after attempt.

The second Jones interception set SOU up at its own 40 for the next go-ahead TD, which made it 30-23 with 2:49 left in the fourth. Trosin rushed 17 yards on the drive's first play, Smith completed a 20-yard pass to Teran Togia, and, after a few Keegan Lawrence rushes, Smith hit Tow for a 16-yard score.

Ferris answered again, leading the Bulldogs on a seven-play, 75-yard march in 1:25 – the final play a three-yard Kramer TD run – that tied it again with more than a minute to spare. 

SOU needed two plays to score in overtime – a 16-yard pass from Smith to Tow, and Tow's nine-yard TD carry.

Togia finished with five catches for 58 yards. Lawrence netted 55 yards on eight carries, and Mason added 41 on 16 tries. SOU totaled 574 yards of offense to UMW's 508.

UMW started the day allowing nine points per game and hadn't given up 37 or more in 12 games.

Gage made a career-high 11 tackles, while Brendan Gormley, Lealofi and Blake were credited with eight apiece.
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