Box Score BOX SCORE
ASHLAND, Ore. – The Southern Oregon University football team upset No. 17 Eastern Oregon University, 46-34, Saturday.
The Raiders (3-3) won their third straight game after losing their first three. EOU fell for the second straight week after winning its first four games. SOU beat a top-25 ranked team for the second straight week after defeating then-ranked No. 23 Menlo on the road last week.
Southern finished with 540 total yards of offense, while EOU had 389 yards. The Raiders recorded eight sacks in the victory. The Mountaineer defense forced six turnovers, including five in the first half, four coming in the first quarter. Eastern Oregon entered the game as the national leader on third down conversions, but were held to 5 of 17 in the game, including 1 of 7 in the first half.
Austin Dodge finished 20 of 29 for SOU. The freshman threw three touchdown passes and a pair of interceptions. Justin Otaguro had a team-high five receptions for 87 yards with a touchdown. Patrick Donahue caught two touchdown passes, finishing with four receptions for 143 yards. Manny Barragan ran for two touchdowns, and 73 yards on 22 carries.
The Raiders knocked off their in-state rivals for the third consecutive season. It was the 62nd meeting between the schools in a series that dates back to 1930 and has been tabbed the “Little Civil War.” It marked the final time the teams meet as non-conference opponents as SOU joins the Frontier Conference in 2012.
A 79-yard Dodge to Donahue connection opened the scoring with 13:39 left in the first quarter. It was the lone play of the drive on Southern's second possession of the game. EOU (4-2, 4-1 Frontier Conference) then got back-to-back scores over a nine-minute span to take a 14-6 advantage.
Jake Burroughs ran in a 10-yard score and
Kevin Sampson caught a
Chris Ware pass for an 18-yard touchdown.
Barragan completed a six-play, 53-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run with 58 seconds left in the first quarter. Dodge did the only scoring in the second quarter with two touchdown runs, the first at the 9:11 mark for two yards and the second at the 2:22 mark for eight yards. SOU finished the first half with 401 yards of offense and a 25-14 lead, despite the four turnovers.
Otaguro caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Dodge to open the second half scoring. Eastern then marched 80 yards in 13 plays and got a 13-yard Ware to Bedford touchdown connection at the 6:22 mark of the third quarter. Four minutes later, Barragan would find the endzone after a one-yard run.
Three minutes into the fourth quarter, Ware found Bedford for a 20-yard touchdown pass to cut the Raider lead to 39-28. Southern then drove down the field in six plays and 69 yards and capped it off with a 33-yard Donahue from Dodge touchdown pass. A Ware to Bedford two-yard pass with 1:53 left in regulation completed the scoring.
Eastern's
Marc-Avery Airhart finished with a game-high 12 tackles.
Max Hannah had an interception and a fumble recovery.
Karsen Garcia had the other interception, and
Howard McDonald, Nate Rudder, and
Jeremy Rowley each had a fumble recovery. Heston Altenbach and Michael Springer each had 11 tackles for Southern. Josh Leff had nine tackles, an interception, and three pass breakups. Drew Nobles had a fumble recovery.
Ware completed 29 of his 54 pass attempts for 294 yards. The senior threw four touchdown passes and one interception. Sampson ran for 101 yards on 16 carries and caught five passes for 55 yards. Bedford had eight catches for 83 yards. Ware had 20 rush attempts in the game and is now five run attempts shy of breaking the school record for rush attempts in a career. It would be Ware's 14th school record.
Eastern Oregon returns to La Grande next Saturday and will host Montana Tech (1-4, 0-4) for Homecoming. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. with live video and stats on EOUSports.com. Live radio will be on KCMB 104.7 FM locally in La Grande.
