retzlaff
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo.
38
Winner Montana Tech MTT 9-1 , 9-1
27
Southern Oregon SOU 5-6 , 5-5
Winner
Montana Tech MTT
9-1 , 9-1
38
Final
27
Southern Oregon SOU
5-6 , 5-5
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
MTT Montana Tech 7 10 21 0 38
SOU Southern Oregon 6 7 14 0 27

Game Recap: Football | | SOU Sports Information

No. 6 Montana Tech beats SOU, 38-27, to secure outright title

ASHLAND – Quarterback Quinn McQueary and the sixth-ranked Montana Tech Orediggers picked apart Southern Oregon on Saturday afternoon and will ride a nine-game winning streak into the NAIA Championship Series following their 38-27 triumph in the regular-season finale at Raider Stadium.

By winning a November tilt in Ashland for the second year in a row, the Orediggers (9-1 overall, 9-1 conference) also locked up their second straight Frontier title outright. McQueary completed 21 of 31 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns, and he rushed 14 times for 65 yards and a score.

With added help from all-star running back Nolan Saraceni, who netted 99 yards and two TDs, Tech finished with 554 yards of offense – the highest total for an SOU conference opponent in three years.

The Raiders (5-6, 5-5) wrapped up with a sub-.500 record for the first time since 2010.

They fell behind 17-6 in the second quarter, their only points coming on Marcus Montano field goals of 30 and 34 yards, before Jack Singler's 36-yard touchdown pass with 25 left in the half to Matt Retzlaff, who added 30 yards up the sideline after the catch for his SOU-record 40th career receiving TD.

AJ Cooper picked off a McQueary pass and returned it 39 yards to Tech's 14-yard line on the first possession of the third quarter, and the next play resulted in Singler's 14-yard TD pass up the middle to Ben Bachman that put SOU up 20-17. Tech responded, working a 44-yard field after SOU's onside-kick attempt, with McQueary's six-yard rushing TD. But on SOU's second play from scrimmage of the half, Singler connected with Jason Shelley over the top for a 53-yard score that made it 27-24.

The Raiders, however, punted away their next three possessions and were intercepted on their last.

Down three and facing third-and-25, McQueary eluded a couple pass-rushers and lobbed a completed 37-yard prayer to Dion Williams, keeping alive a drive that ended with his 15-yard completion to Williams in the end zone. That gave the Diggers a lead for good with 7:08 left in the third, and they added to it on their next possession with a 61-yard drive that Saraceni finished with a four-yard score.

Williams caught eight passes for 133 yards, and Chris Kelly made a 30-yard TD catch in the first quarter. Tech safety Gunnar Kayser added his seventh interception of the year and six tackles.

For the Raiders, Singler completed 26 of 49 passes for 242 yards and three TDs without an interception. Retzlaff, appearing in a Raider uniform for the last time, made 10 catches for 98 yards and in the process became the eighth receiver in SOU history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a season.

The Raiders totaled 301 yards of offense but were penalized 11 times for 90 yards.

To go with his third interception of the season, Cooper made a career-high 12 tackles. Sage DeLong added a pair of sacks and senior safety Julius Rucker made nine tackles, bringing his four-year total to 285 to move into fifth place on the SOU career list.

SOU finished fourth in the Frontier standings.

The 16-team NAIA Championship Series field – which is also expected to include ninth-ranked Eastern Oregon (8-2) for the first time after its 27-17 win Saturday at Carroll – will be announced on Sunday.
 
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