ASHLAND – Though briefly in peril, the Southern Oregon rushing record held by his father is safe from Gunner Yates for now. On Saturday afternoon at Raider Stadium, No. 9-ranked College of Idaho was not.

Yates put on a show with 31 rushes for 293 yards and four touchdowns in the No. 20 Raiders' 45-27 upset of the Yotes, which made them 3-0 entering the Frontier Conference portion of their schedule. The sophomore from Coquille logged scoring plays of 10, 40 and 68 yards in the first half, then broke loose for a 59-yard TD in the second to accumulate the third-highest yardage total on the ground in SOU history.

SOU's defense was also up to the challenge with three takeaways against the Yotes (2-2), a team that advanced to last year's NAIA semifinals, had won eight straight over the Raiders until the 2023 regular-season finale and was picked to win the Frontier this season.

But the spotlight belonged to Yates, who is now tied for the NAIA lead with nine rushing touchdowns on the season. His father, Griff, set the Raider record for rushing yards in a game with 348 during the 1998 season. With four minutes left in the third quarter, his son was up to 272.

His first trip to the end zone required a casual stiff-arm to complete a 10-yard jaunt that put SOU ahead with 1:15 left in the first quarter. His second, four minutes later, saw him get outside and go untouched from the Raiders' 32-yard line to give them a 14-0 lead.

The Yotes answered with their first TD midway through the period. But with 2:14 left before halftime, Yates ran into the middle of the defense, stayed on his feet while everyone around him collapsed and bounced out of the pack to get on his way for a 40-yard score.

His final strike was a momentum-killer for the Yotes. They'd trimmed their deficit to 21-13 with 6:27 left in the third after forcing a fumble and taking advantage of a short field to get an Andy Peters touchdown pass to Torey Watkins. They also appeared to get a stop on SOU's ensuing drive, but a roughing-the-punter penalty extended it and two plays later Yates was loose for his 59-yard TD.

Senior quarterback Blake Asciutto – who finished 20-of-32 for 313 yards – provided the final touches with touchdown passes of 28 yards to Jackson Clemmer and 44 yards to Brandon Barthel. Late in the fourth, Brian Batres made a 38-yard field goal to extend a two-score lead to 18 points.

Meanwhile the defense got to Peters, C of I's all-star graduate quarterback. Arlo Henderson Jr. picked him off in the third quarter on a pass that was initially tipped by Bryson Kievit. With SOU leading 35-20 in the fourth, Aukai Grace picked him off after earlier having a potential interception go through his hands.

SOU collected its other takeaway later during the quarter in the form of a strip-sack by Gabe Foster that Adonis Jackson recovered. Foster was in on another sack earlier in the day with O'Shea Miller; Jackson and Iona Purcell reached Peters in the backfield, too.

The Raiders finished with a 571-348 advantage in total yards over the Yotes. The matchup was the first of two between the teams this season: Their Frontier counter is the final game on the regular-season schedule, Nov. 16 in Caldwell.

NOTES:

• Sawyer Cleveland matched a career-high with 137 reception yards on nine catches. It was the third 100-plus-yard game of his career.
• Jaxon Jedrykowski led the defense with a career-high eight tackles. He and the rest of SOU's defensive backfield were dominant: In addition to the interceptions, Grace had three pass-breakups and Jalin Speed had two along with five tackles.
• Dating back to last season, the Raiders have won eight of their last nine games. They're off to a 3-0 start for the fourth time in the last decade and first time since 2018.
• Yates' triple-digit game was his second in a row and the third of his career. He's punched in multiple rushing TDs in six of his 13 all-time appearances. He was just short of joining Griff Yates and Dusty McGrorty as the only players in SOU history to record over 300 rushing yards in a game, but became the fourth Raider ever to tally four rushing TDs.
• The Raiders have two more vaunted opponents coming up – hosting No. 4-ranked Montana Western next Saturday in their Frontier opener and visiting No. 12 Montana Tech on Oct. 5.