trosin
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
35
Eastern Oregon EOU 0-3 , 0-2
38
Winner Southern Oregon SOU 1-1 , 1-1
Eastern Oregon EOU
0-3 , 0-2
35
Final
38
Southern Oregon SOU
1-1 , 1-1
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
EOU Eastern Oregon 0 21 14 0 35
SOU Southern Oregon 0 14 7 17 38

Game Recap: Football | | SOU Sports Information

Raiders pull off biggest comeback since 1998 to shock EOU, 38-35

ASHLAND – Eastern Oregon's recent ownership of the Southern Oregon University football team at Raider Stadium continued for almost three quarters on Saturday afternoon. The Raiders spent the final 15-plus minutes performing an exorcism of historic proportions in a stunning 38-35 victory.

Freshman kicker Marcus Montano's 27-yard field goal that divided the uprights with four seconds remaining turned SOU's greatest second-half comeback in 17 years into its greatest second-half comeback win in even longer. The top-ranked Raiders (1-1 overall, 1-1 Frontier Conference) trailed the No. 13 Mountaineers (0-3, 0-2) 35-14 before Tanner Trosin's 10-yard quarterback draw for a touchdown with nine seconds left in the third quarter became the first piece of their redemption.

The last time the Raiders pulled off a comeback of this magnitude was Oct. 31, 1998 at Simon Fraser. They trailed that game 30-7 before outscoring the Clan 30-7 in the fourth quarter to force overtime, where they lost 43-37. (Locating a victory of this sort will require additional, and potentially futile, digging.)

The game was SOU's first of the season in Ashland, where the Raiders had gone 16-2 over the previous four seasons since head coach Craig Howard's arrival. EOU was responsible for both of the losing exceptions – a 31-27 win last season and a 38-37 win in 2013.

Trosin, a junior transfer who began the game in a backup role, had a large hand in the turn of fortune, rushing 14 times for 116 yards and three TDs and also completing 17 of 20 passes for 173 yards. He led the Raiders to scores on their final four drives on a day when they went their first four possessions without one.

Even larger was the sudden urgency with which the Raider defense played, allowing EOU to travel a combined 10 yards and achieve one first down on its last three possessions. In the six Mountaineer possessions that preceded those, they found the end zone five times.

EOU running back Jace Billingsley, a familiar Raider Stadium villain, had the Raiders on life support all day again with 19 rushes for 131 yards and seven catches for 107. Of those 238 yards, however, he gained 209 in the first half. Billingsley – who last year netted 245 rushing yards at Raider Stadium, and the year before tossed the game-winning receiver-pass with 1:53 left – was helped offensively by Zach Bartlow, who completed 17 of 25 passes for 218 yards and a TD, and rushed 13 times for 81 yards.

Trailing 14-0 after a six-yard Bartlow TD run, the Raiders scored twice in the final 1:46 of the first half to enter halftime down only 21-14 – first on Melvin Mason's one-yard TD dive, and then on Trosin's four-yard draw. Matt Retzlaff had key receptions of 37 yards and 32 yards on both drives that gave the Raiders first-and-goal.

EOU began the second half with a 75-yard march that Billingsley concluded with an eight-yard TD run. The Raiders later looked toasted when, at EOU's 30-yard line, Austin Brown forced a fumble by Mason and Jared Jensen recovered and returned it 44 yards. Bartlow found a wide open TJ Esekielu for a 24-yard TD on the very next play, making it 35-14 with 4:39 left in third.

On their next four drives, the Raiders would travel 80, 69, 73 and 74 yards. They ran on 28 of 41 plays from scrimmage during those possessions, during which Keegan Lawrence picked up all 54 of his yards on 11 carries.

Trosin's third rushing TD made it 35-28 with 10:15 left, and Mason's second TD tied it at the 3:24 mark. EOU's ensuing possession reached the SOU 44-yard line but no farther; Deacon Starr dropped of a third-down pass that would've taken the Mountaineers to SOU's 15 with 1:14 left.

Four straight Trosin completions – the last two for 20 yards to Adonis Griffin and a diving 32-yarder by Matt Retzlaff over the middle – and two Trosin rushes took the Raiders 74 yards in 1:01 to set up Montano's heroics. Montano has connected on three straight field-goal chances to start the season.

Retzlaff caught five passes for 109 yards, and Teran Togia had career-highs of eight catches and 52 reception yards. Nine different Raiders made at least one catch, and Mason finished with 56 yards on 15 carries.

Defensively, Joseph Lealofi had nine tackles (six solo), half a sack and a QB hurry. Isiah Carter made eight tackles. The Mountaineers were led by nine tackles each by Gary Posten, Jared Jensen and Adam Bese, and Posten also had an interception.

SOU had the advantage in total yardage, 542 to 429.

The Raiders travel next week to College of Idaho (1-2). The rematch between SOU and EOU is set for Nov. 14, the regular-season finale in La Grande.
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