ASHLAND – Southern Oregon's single-season rushing touchdown record is in Gunner Yates' possession after he added three more to his total in a breezy 57-15 blowout of Montana State-Northern on Saturday afternoon at Raider Stadium.

The sophomore from Coquille needed only one half of action in his eighth outing of the season to break Dusty McGrorty's 21-year-old mark of 22 rushing TDs. He helped the No. 10-ranked Raiders construct a 43-0 halftime lead as they upped their record to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the Frontier Conference.

They'll play for first place next week at Carroll (Mont.), which improved to 5-0 in FC play with a 43-29 upset victory at No. 12 College of Idaho.

Isaiah Hidalgo joined Yates with three rushing TDs and led the Raiders with 125 yards on nine carries – also doing all of his damage before halftime. At one point in the second quarter, the SOU running backs punched in three scores in a span of two minutes. Yates tied McGrorty's mark by taking a sweep 13 yards to the house, he broke it with his 23rd of the season on a one-yard run after a Lights turnover on downs, and Hidalgo followed with a 19-yarder for his third of the game a few plays after a Lights fumble.

MSU-Northern (0-7, 0-5) lost its 26th consecutive Frontier game, a futility streak that dates back to 2021. The Lights were shut out until stringing together a 42-yard drive against SOU's backups early in the third quarter, and they didn't complete their first pass until a few minutes later. They were stifled to the tune of 64 passing yards on 14 attempts and an average of 3.8 yards per rush.

Da'mon Carter collected his second interception of the fall for the Raiders. Ayden Denbo had a sack, another tackle for a loss and a fumble recovery, Cameron Carr led the team with six tackles, and Dyllon Daniels and Gabe Foster both recorded 1 ½ for losses.

Three SOU quarterbacks saw the field, helping 12 different Raiders tally receptions. Blake Asciutto went 9-of-14 for 85 yards in limited time, and Brennan Stults came off the bench to complete all seven of his attempts, including a 16-yard touchdown to James Mintmier.

Alexander Angulo added the first touchdown of his career, a four-yard rush with 7:10 remaining.

NOTES:

• Yates has rushed for multiple TDs in every game. This was his sixth (and fourth in a row) with at least three of them. Sitting on 24 total TDs, he is one away from that record established by McGrorty in 2001. He netted 62 rushing yards on a season-low nine carries against the Lights, bringing his average to 129.1, the second-highest in the NAIA. He retook the national lead in rushing TDs and has scored 11 more than any other player in the Frontier.
• The Raiders improved to 17-0 all-time against MSU-Northern, marking their longest head-to-head winning streak ever against any opponent. They've won nine of those games by 30-plus points.
• SOU is 5-0 this season at Raider Stadium and has won six in a row at home going back to last year.
• The Raiders have defeated their five unranked opponents by an average of 45 points. They've won three games in a row by 40-plus points for the first time in team history.
• Next week they'll go for their first win at Carroll since 2018. They've lost their last four games against the Saints, two of which were in Helena. A win would likely force a three-way tie for first between SOU, Carroll and Montana Western, but the Raiders would own head-to-head tiebreakers over both squads.