ASHLAND – A record-setting performance by
Christian Graney was just the cherry on top of Southern Oregon's breakout win Saturday against the defending Frontier Conference champions.
SOU poured it on against Montana Western, 49-14, as Graney amassed 267 reception yards – topping Cole McKenzie's 10-year-old school record by two yards – on 10 catches with a pair of touchdowns at Raider Stadium.
The 5-foot-11 senior from Sanger, Calif., benefitted from a career-best outing for sophomore quarterback
Blake Asciutto, who completed 17-of-29 attempts for 416 yards. He passed for four touchdowns, connecting with
Sawyer Cleveland and
Rayden Kaneshiro on the others, without throwing a pick.
The Raiders improved to 3-3, snapping a four-game home losing streak that dated back to last year. The Bulldogs – who were picked in the Frontier preseason poll to repeat as champions – slipped to 3-4 overall and 2-4 in the conference. They dropped their third straight and were effectively eliminated from postseason contention a few weeks after sitting at No. 17 in the NAIA coaches' poll.
Graney ensured their demise with six catches that picked up 20 yards or more. His day started with Asciutto's 57-yard TD pass that hit him in stride to tie the score at 7-all midway through the first period. With 18 seconds left in SOU's 23-point second quarter, he made a leaping catch downfield, got a big block from fellow receiver
Nehemiah Dedmon, and went 70 yards to the end zone to make it 30-7 at halftime.
The Raider defense also stepped up to limit UMW quarterback Jon Jund, the reigning FC Offensive Player of the Year. The Bulldogs used a flea-flicker to score on the first drive of the game, as Jund hit Dylan Shipley for a 42-yard TD pass, but were held to 261 yards the rest of the day.
Senior linebacker
Jake Regino, the Frontier's leading in tackles, feasted again with 15 more. He had two for losses, one sack and a forced fumble, and he came up with a momentum-building interception in the second quarter after
Tarik Moore struck Jund to interrupt his throwing motion.
Isaac Brown registered a career-high two sacks and
Stokes Botelho went for eight tackles.
Meanwhile, the Raider offense didn't relent. It accumulated 555 yards, the team's second-highest total over the last four seasons. Freshman
Gunner Yates led the way on the ground with 15 rushes for 56 yards and two TDs, and he added two receptions for 53 yards. Cleveland's TD catch was a 44-yarder; he was one of five Raiders with a reception that went for 27 yards or more.
Cesar Ruiz added a 41-yard field goal that marked his longest of the season.
The Raiders sit in fifth place with four games to go and a few upcoming opportunities to knock off teams in front of them. They'll travel next to third-place and No. 19-ranked Montana Tech on Oct. 22 following next week's bye. After that, they're on to No. 9 College of Idaho, which kept its hold on first place and remained unbeaten by defeating Montana Tech 27-24 on Saturday.
NOTES: The Bulldogs fell to 0-8 all-time at Raider Stadium. They'd won their last two matchups against SOU in Montana by an average margin of 35.5 points … Graney's previous career-high in reception yards was 103, and he'd topped out at 79 this year. He now ranks second among all Frontier players in receptions (34) and reception yardage per game (90.7) on the year. He moved up to No. 7 on SOU's career receptions list at 154, and with six more he'd own the No. 3 spot … Asciutto became the first SOU quarterback to throw for 400-plus passing yards since Tanner Trosin totaled 502 in 2017. At 246.3 passing yards per game, he has a 49-yard cushion atop the Frontier leaderboard, and he has four more passing TDs (14) than any other QB in the circuit … Regino is the first Raider in eight years to record 10-plus tackles in four consecutive games. He was one off his career-high of 16 and is up to 71 on the season … Yates has scored six TDs in SOU's last three games. He's the first Raider in five years with multiple rushing TDs in back-to-back games.
