ASHLAND – Blake Asciutto passed for a season-high 355 yards, Gunner Yates punched in three more touchdowns, and No. 13-ranked Southern Oregon got a welcome respite from any late-game drama in a 54-14 Homecoming blowout of Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Saturday at Raider Stadium.

The Raiders mounted a 541-203 advantage in total yardage, improving to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Frontier Conference. While ringing up their second-highest FC point total in the last seven seasons, they also kept the Battlin' Bears (1-5, 0-4) out of the end zone until the fourth quarter.

Asciutto, a senior from Camas, Wash., continued his hot play by completing 21-of-36 attempts and throwing for three touchdowns without an interception – a performance that gave him 12 TDs and no picks over his last five games. He hooked up with Jackson Clemmer for the first two scores, a 27-yarder in the first quarter and a seven-yarder in the second, then gave the Raiders a 40-8 lead with a 28-yard TD strike to Sawyer Cleveland five minutes into the third. His top target on the day, Brandon Barthel, made seven catches for a season-high 118 yards.

Yates upped his season touchdown total to 18, getting his 15th, 16th and 17th on the ground. His workmanlike day – which left him five rushing TDs and seven total TDs away from SOU single-season records, still with five regular-season games left to play – included 23 carries for 80 yards. The Raiders got solid production from another back, Isaiah Hidalgo, who rushed 10 times for 80 yards and logged a 64-yard reception.

The offense never relented, scoring at one point on seven of eight drives with a pair of 23-yard field goals mixed in from Brian Batres. The defense was just as dominant in an effort capped by Da'mon Carter's 85-yard pick-six with two minutes left.

They caused problems on the line throughout the afternoon with seven sacks, 2 ½ of which were credited to Adonis Jackson. Carter, Ty Glumbik, Mipam Jampa, O'Shea Miller and Iona Purcell also got in on the action.

Like Carter, Noah Taylor collected his first career interception. They helped the Raiders limit RMC to 5.7 yards per pass attempt in addition to a paltry average of 1.6 yards per rush.

NOTES:

• The Raiders improved to 4-0 at home and have won five straight at Raider Stadium dating back to last season, their longest streak since winning seven straight from 2017-18. They improved to 27-4 all-time in Frontier home games against unranked opponents.
• The 300-plus-yard effort was Asciutto's fourth in his last five starts. Prior to this stretch, he'd gone 10 consecutive starts without hitting that number. He is one of just two quarterbacks in the country who have thrown for at least 13 TDs with one or no interceptions. He also became the fourth player in team history to accumulate 50 career TD passes.
• Yates took over the NAIA lead in rushing touchdowns (17). He remained No. 1 in rushing yards per game (141.2) and leads in yards per attempt (6.7) among those who have logged at least 100 carries.
• The Raiders improved to 11-4 all-time against Rocky and 5-1 against the Bears in Ashland.
• In the Frontier's most anticipated game of the week, No. 7 Montana Western scored a 27-21 win over No. 12 Montana Tech in Dillon, making UMW 2-1 and Tech 202 in conference play. This was positive news for SOU: In the event of any ties at the end of the season, the Raiders hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over UMW but not over Tech. First-place Carroll (Mont.) had a bye, but after hosting Eastern Oregon next week, the Saints will face all four of the Frontier's Top 25 teams in consecutive weeks.
• SOU's opponent next week, Arizona Christian, dropped to 1-4 with a 52-27 loss to College of Idaho.