ASHLAND – Sophomore quarterback
Wyatt Hutchinson threw for 339 yards and Southern Oregon went out with its sharpest offensive game of the season in a 37-10 thumping of 23rd-ranked Montana Western on Saturday at Raider Stadium.
The Raiders held a two-score advantage from the middle of the first quarter on and amassed 547 yards, their highest total in 12 games spanning back to last year. The Bulldogs – who were playing for a share of the Frontier Conference title after first-place Rocky Mountain was defeated in its regular-season finale – mustered just 285 yards against a defense headed by senior
Devvon Gage's three tackles for losses.
SOU, UMW, Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho finished in a four-way tie for second place with matching 6-4 records. Rocky was one game ahead at 7-3 and will get an automatic bid to the NAIA Championship Series as long as it garners a top-20 national ranking in Monday's final coaches' poll.
The Raiders have posted six winning records in the last seven seasons. They've finished lower than second place once since joining the Frontier.
In exceeding 300 yards for the second week in a row, Hutchinson completed 21-of-41 attempts and got eight receivers involved, including
Bronsen Ader (5 catches, 93 yards),
Jason Shelley (3 catches, 129 yards) and Rev Vega (4 catches, 36 yards). Four minutes into the second quarter, Hutchinson hit Shelley in stride for a 74-yard touchdown pass that made it 24-7 and went down as SOU's second-longest passing play this season.
Vega rushed in three touchdowns in the final game of his career, landing him at No. 4 on SOU's all-time rushing TDs list (30) and No. 5 on the total TDs list (35). He netted 66 yards on 16 carries, while Hutchinson rushed six times for 55 yards.
Marcus Montano connected on field goals of 25 yards in the first quarter, 41 in the second and 38 in the fourth to finish 17-of-21 on the season. In his four years as a Raider, he converted 50 field goals.
The Raiders entered the day as the NAIA leader in sacks and added six more to their total – two above their average – against UMW quarterback Jon Jund, who was limited to 217 yards on 18-of-41 passing. Gage had two of them,
Caleb Mitchell was credited with 1 ½ and
Sean Rogers had one with a pair of quarterback-hurries. Mitchell also forced and recovered a fumble by Jund, and
William Brown generated a second takeaway with a forced fumble recovered by
Michael Chisley Jr.
Tyson Cooper contributed seven tackles and
AJ Cooper had six in their finals games.
The Raiders finished 4-1 at home with a pair of wins against ranked opponents.
Rocky's conference championship is its first since 1999.
