REDDING, Calif. – Southern Oregon threw up 49 points and 449 yards in the first half before hitting the brakes in a 70-7 win over Simpson (Calif.) on Saturday night at Bill Johnson Community Stadium.
The No. 23-ranked Raiders (2-0) reached the 70-point mark for the fifth time in team history and finished with 636 yards of offense, their highest total in eight years. They scored touchdowns on their first eight drives of the game, averaged 9.9 yards per play from scrimmage, and surrendered only 169 yards.
Senior quarterback
Blake Asciutto completed 20-of-27 pass attempts to record 354 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore running back
Gunner Yates netted 113 yards and three TDs on 12 carries, marking the second triple-digit rushing game of his career, and
Isaiah Hidalgo had seven carries for 63 yards and two scores.
Glen Leith-Ross added a sixth rushing touchdown, and four different Raiders logged reception TDs:
Brandon Barthel,
Jackson Clemmer,
Sawyer Cleveland and
Dawson Douglas (from
McCade Long). Cleveland led all of them with 74 yards on four catches.
The Raiders led 14-0 less than four minutes into the game. Their first play from scrimmage resulted in a 56-yard completion from Asciutto to
Trevor Jaasko. Seven different players went on to make catches of 20 yards or longer.
There was a bright spot for the Red Hawks (0-3), who are celebrating their inaugural season and set to join the Frontier Conference in 2025. Their 10-yard, 75-yard drive in the second half that culminated with a 15-yard TD pass from Kaleb Anderson to Talan Ramirez gave them the first points in team history.
Otherwise, the SOU defense forced three-and-outs on six of their first eight possessions. The only drive during the stretch that extended longer than 30 yards resulted in a fumble.
Braden Bailey and
Brandon Dominguez forced fumbles that
Gabe Foster and
Jaden Fliegel recovered.
Iona Purcell led the defense with six tackles.
With the final horn came an abrupt end to the soft section of the Raiders' schedule. Over the next three weeks, they'll face three opponents ranked among the top-15. They'll start with two games at Raider Stadium: next Saturday against No. 3 College of Idaho in a nonconference counter, and Sept. 28 against No. 9 Montana Western, the defending Frontier champion. Both kick off at 1 p.m.
NOTES:
- The total of 14 points allowed so far by SOU is the lowest combined for opponents over the first two games of a season since 2001.
- The Raiders are 2-0 for the fourth time since joining the Frontier in 2012. Dating back to last season, they've won seven of their last eight games and given up an average of 12.5 points during that stretch.
- Next week's game against C of I will be the first top-25 matchup at Raider Stadium since 2018.
- Yates rushed for all three of his TDs in the first half. He is up to 15 total TDs, including 13 on the ground, over his last 10 regular-season appearances.
- Asciutto's performance was the second in his career with 300-plus passing yards. He also finished with his second-highest completion percentage (74.1) in a start.
