HELENA, Mont. – The Carroll (Mont.) defense was as good as advertised. It'll have Southern Oregon kicking itself all the way home after enabling the Saints to overcome four straight turnovers and pull out a critical 21-17 win on Saturday at Nelson Stadium.
The No. 21-ranked Saints (7-1 overall, 6-0 Frontier Conference), who were nothing short of disastrous out of the gate, retained sole possession of first place by holding the No. 8 Raiders (7-2, 4-2) scoreless over the final 37 minutes of play. They opened the game by fumbling away a kickoff return, got strip-sacked on their first drive to lose another, fumbled a snap on a would-be punt to turn their second drive over on downs, and were intercepted on their third. They'd go on to lose another fumble later in the half.
Despite all that and the 17-0 SOU lead it cost them, Brett Tommasini's one-yard touchdown run put the Saints ahead for good with 10:26 left in the fourth quarter. They sealed the win after with their sixth and seventh consecutive defensive stops.
The Raiders ended the first Top 25 matchup between the teams since 2015 with a season-low 233 yards of offense.
Gunner Yates got loose early with a one-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and a 16-yard TD reception on a screen pass in the second – which broke SOU's single-season TD record, bringing his total to 26 – but he didn't net any rushing yards on seven carries after halftime. Yates finished with 68 on 28 attempts, adding three receptions for 63 yards.
Blake Asciutto completed 16-of-35 passes for 163 yards.
The Raider defense provided an opening with four takeaways, getting to Carroll quarterback Jack Prka for six sacks and forcing him to commit three turnovers. The result sullied a monster game for defensive end
Gabe Foster, who had 3 ½ sacks, forced a fumble, and deflected a pass that
Ty Glumbik intercepted.
Prka, who finished 22-of-31 for 280 yards, got the Saints on the board by capping a 65-yard drive with a short touchdown pass to Carson Ochoa 3:36 before halftime. In the third quarter, he conducted a 10-play, 76-yard march that ended in a Tommassini dive into the end zone to trim SOU's lead to 17-14. He worked another 10-play drive on their next possession, which ended the same way.
SOU's
Adonis Jackson added two sacks, forced a fumble, and was responsible for the pressure that led to Glumbik's interception.
Da'mon Carter forced the fumble on the game-opening kickoff return, and
O'Shea Miller recovered two fumbles.
With two regular-season games left to play, the Raiders are two games back of Carroll and one back of Montana Western. SOU, College of Idaho and Montana Tech have two losses apiece, pending the results of late games for C of I and Tech.
The Raiders will be in must-win territory when Eastern Oregon visits Raider Stadium next Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
