HAVRE, Mont. – Saturday's trip to Tilleman Stadium came at the perfect time for the Southern Oregon University football team. Now, after evening their record with a 56-6 bashing of Montana State-Northern, the Raiders have two weeks to sit on their highest-scoring performance in years.

In dealing the Lights (0-2) a 51st loss in their last 52 Frontier Conference games, SOU came away with its most points since 2016 and its most points in a half (35) and total yards of offense (565) since the first round of the 2017 NAIA playoffs. Seven players scored touchdowns and the defense limited MSU-Northern to 12 first-downs, helping the Raiders recover convincingly from an opening-week loss to No. 19-ranked Rocky Mountain (Mont.).

Sophomore quarterback Blake Asciutto, making his first start of the season, completed 21-of-28 passes for 285 yards and four touchdowns in just one half of action, helping SOU to a 35-6 lead at the break. Adrik Lamar had four receptions for 142 yards, including a 74-yard TD grab, and Champ Robertson netted 117 yards rushing on nine attempts with a 15-yard TD. Bryce Goggin had two touchdowns: one receiving and one rushing.

The Raiders (1-1) snapped a six-game road losing streak that dated back to 2019. The win was their most lopsided since defeating the Lights 82-9 on Sept. 26, 2015.

Through two weeks of competition, only two Frontier teams remain unbeaten: College of Idaho and Montana Tech. C of I, fresh off a 21-18 upset at Rocky, will visit Raider Stadium on Sept. 17 for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

Against the Lights, the Raiders had five scoring drives spanning at least 75 yards. Their first was capped by Ben Rash's five-yard TD rush four minutes into the game, and with 51 seconds left in the first quarter Asciutto connected with Ben Graziani for a three-yard pass in the end zone to complete an 80-yard drive.

Goggin, Lamar and Christian Graney each collected TD receptions in the second quarter, giving the Raiders 35 points before the Lights got on the board. In the second half, Christian Quirarte joined Goggin and Robertson with scores on the ground.

Graney finished with six receptions for 51 yards and Graziani had four for 40. Quirarte netted 33 yards on 12 rushing attempts, while freshman Gunner Yates – the son of SOU three-time All-American Griff Yates – debuted with 43 yards on nine attempts.

Defensively the Raiders held MSUN to 141 total yards and an average of four on 35 pass attempts. They had two takeaways: Josiah Purchase came up with an interception, and Ty Glumbik recovered a fumble forced by Taye Courtney. Cente Borja had two sacks and Nolan Rinefort led the team with six tackles.

NOTES: The Raiders' total of 265 rushing yards was their highest since Sept. 15, 2018. They averaged 7.4 per carry – their highest clip since the first round of the 2015 NAIA playoffs – after failing to eclipse four yards per carry in their previous 16 games … Robertson became the team's first 100-yard rusher since 2019 … SOU had gone its last six games dating back to last year without a rushing TD from a running back … Lamar's 100-yard-receiving game was the second of his career … The Raiders are 15-0 all-time against the Lights and have won 10 Frontier matchups by an average of 33 points … SOU is 23-11 in Frontier road games against unranked opponents since joining the conference in 2012.