ASHLAND – Southern Oregon could be called a giant killer after sending another top-10 team away from Raider Stadium with a loss on Saturday. But the way the last couple weeks have gone, the Raiders have the look of a team returning to form as the true giant of the Frontier Conference.

Seven days after taking down then-No. 9 College of Idaho, No. 14 SOU held on in its circuit opener for a 28-26 win against No. 4 Montana Western, the Frontier's defending champion. Trailing 10-7, the Raiders went in front for good 11 seconds before halftime and took a three-score lead in the third quarter on back-to-back TD connections from Blake Asciutto to Sawyer Cleveland.

They improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the FC while dropping UMW to 3-1 and 1-1. The Bulldogs entered the afternoon with an eight-game conference winning streak intact and hadn't been held under 30 points since the middle of last year. At the halfway point of the fourth quarter, they were stuck on 13.

The result will likely leave SOU as the Frontier's highest-ranked team when the next NAIA Top 25 is released on Monday. The Raiders' next opponent, No. 10 Montana Tech, was a 45-37 upset victim in overtime at C of I.

Gunner Yates rushed 31 times for 154 yards and became the first Raider since the turn of the century to register multiple rushing TDs in four consecutive games with his 10th and 11th of the season. His first was a 22-yarder that put the Raiders ahead four minutes into the game. After the Bulldogs went ahead with John Mears' 43-yard field goal and a 24-yard pass from Michael Palandri to Jake Humphrey, Yates found the end zone for the second time from close to complete a 10-play, 72-yard drive right seconds before halftime.

Palandri, the reigning FC Offensive Player of the Year, finished 22-of-35 for 371 yards. The Raiders limited his damage, though, by turning UMW over on downs at their 10-yard line in the second quarter and at their 1-yard line a few minutes into the fourth.

Meanwhile, Asciutto went 14-of-20 for 180 yards and hooked up with Cleveland for two big plays in the third quarter that gave SOU a 28-10 lead. Cleveland – who went for 137 reception yards in last week's win – went over his defender to snag a 12-yard TD pass in the corner of the end zone with 9:16 left in the period. Three minutes later, Asciutto scrambled out of the pocket and found him across the middle to break one tackle and accelerate for a 40-yard score.

The Bulldogs threatened late. Down 28-13, Palandri hit Eli Nourse for a 23-yard score with 4:02 remaining. Their two-point conversion attempt failed but they promptly recovered an onside kick and got another Palandri-to-Nourse TD connection from 19 yards out.

The threat ended there. Jackson Clemmer came up with UMW's second onside-kick attempt with 3:10 left, and a Yates first-down run three plays later enabled the Raiders to run out the clock.

Jaxon Jedrykowski led the SOU defense with seven tackles and a pair of pass-breakups. Adonis Jackson assisted two sacks – one with Gabe Foster and the other with Iona Purcell – and Purcell finished with 1 ½ tackles for losses.

UMW outgained the Raiders, 438-332, but SOU's first-down total (21) was one higher.

NOTES:

• Montana Western has still never won at Raider Stadium in nine all-time appearances. SOU now has a 12-5 edge in the overall series.
• The Raiders are 4-0 for the eighth time in team history. Four of those starts have occurred over the last 10 years. Dating back to last year, they've won nine of their last 10 games.
• Yates has rushed for 100-plus yards in three consecutive games. The sophomore, who last week was named the NAIA Offensive Player of the Week, is averaging 158.5 yards on the ground per outing to lead the NAIA.
• By the end of Saturday, SOU will be one of just two teams left without a Frontier Conference loss. Carroll or Arizona Christian, which match up later tonight, will be the other.
• Next Saturday's SOU-Montana Tech kickoff is set for noon Pacific Time. The Raiders last won in Butte on Nov. 11, 2017, and will be looking to stop a six-game losing streak in the series.