singler
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
27
College of Idaho CI 2-3 , 1-3
31
Winner Southern Oregon SOU 3-2 , 3-1
College of Idaho CI
2-3 , 1-3
27
Final
31
Southern Oregon SOU
3-2 , 3-1
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
CI College of Idaho 0 21 0 6 27
SOU Southern Oregon 7 14 3 7 31

Game Recap: Football | | SOU Sports Information

No. 9 Raiders hang on for 31-27 defeat of Yotes

ASHLAND – Southern Oregon's ability to do just enough, good or bad, to win at Raider Stadium is becoming uncanny. In the case of Saturday afternoon's 31-27 win against the College of Idaho Coyotes, the Raiders were again just one big play better than their opposition.

Yotes quarterback Tyler Cox took two shots at the end zone from 30 yards out in the final nine seconds, but the ninth-ranked Raiders (3-2 overall, 3-1 Frontier Conference) swatted both away to move back into a first-place tie with Rocky Mountain (Mont.) and 10th-ranked Montana Tech going into next week's game on the former's home field.

There'll be some maintenance in order before then. After going ahead 31-21 on Sean Tow's two-yard touchdown plunge with 13:46 remaining, the Raiders turned the ball over on three of their last five drives and had to punt away the other two. One of the miscues was a Jack Singler pass that was picked off by C of I freshman linebacker August Forrest, who brought it back 56 yards to the house with 8:58 left and suddenly changed the tone of the final stretch.

C of I (2-3, 1-3) made its own costly mistake on the ensuing point-after attempt, however, by botching the snap and allowing SOU to maintain a four-point lead.

On the game's final possession, C of I took over on its own 20-yard line and became the beneficiary of roughing-the-passer and pass-interference calls on SOU. The Yotes' forward movement stopped with Cox's 20-yard completion to Shayne Robinson on the sideline.

Since last the start of the 2015 season, five of seven Frontier games at Raider Stadium (including four of the last five) have been decided by four points or less. SOU has dropped one of them.

Despite the ugly finish, the Raiders did well to survive without leading receivers Matt Retzlaff and Zack Davis. Making his third start, Jack Singler managed an 18-of-34 effort for 304 yards. He logged his first career rushing TD for the first score of the game with 9:52 left in the first quarter, and he completed a highlight-reel pass of 81-yards over the top to Jason Shelley for a score, giving the Raiders a 21-14 edge with 3:28 left in the first half.

The Yotes tied it 18 seconds before the break on Cox's 17-yard completion up the middle to Robinson, but those were the last offensive points the scored.

After surrendering 333 yards of offense in the first half, the Raider defense held the Yotes to 168 in the second and shut them down on eight straight drives.

Keegan Lawrence, a week after snatching an interception and recording 10 tackles in his first career start, led SOU again with 11 tackles and was in on the game-clinching coverage. Devvon Gage and Tyson Cooper had nine tackles apiece, Isiah Carter had eight with three pass break-ups, and Kalan Hoedl teamed up with Sean Rogers for a sack.

SOU had trouble containing Darius-James Peterson, C of I's alternate speed quarterback who rushed 17 times for 132 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown in the first half, but Cox struggled with a 17-of-38 passing effort. Robinson, the top target, caught five passes for 67 yards and two TDs.

Shelley (five catches, 113 yards) and Bronsen Ader (three catches, 86 yards) shined for the Raiders in the absences of Retzlaff and Davis. Tow totaled 81 yards on 11 rushes – scoring in his ninth straight regular-season game – and Rey Vega had 39 yards on 16 tries, including a seven-yard TD in the second quarter.

Marcus Montano's tie-breaking 29-yard field goal, which put SOU up 24-21, was the only score of the third quarter. Tow made it a 10-point game 74 seconds into the fourth to cap a five-play, 70-yard drive.

The Raiders finished with 13 fewer minutes of possession than the Yotes. They put up 441 yards of offense, their lowest output since last year's national title game.

Nate Moore had C of I's other interception to go with eight tackles.
 
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