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--> --> Nov. 26: SOU's run ends in the snow By Bobby Heiken Ashland Daily Tidings As quiet as the snowfall that dumped two inches of snow on Raider Stadium, the Southern Oregon University football team stood motionless Saturday afternoon, stunned at what had just transpired. Carroll College's J.D. Emmert had just took his team 68 yards in 10 plays and scored the winning touchdown on a 9-yard pass to Zack Zawacki with 30 seconds left for a 16-13 victory in the NAIA quarterfinals - ending SOU's hopes of a national championship. The Raiders finished the year with a 9-2 record, while Carroll (10-1) will travel to top-ranked Georgetown, Ky. Saturday. "We don't feel like we are finished yet," Raider senior Kodiak Malmstrom said following the game. "Sometimes when you lose a game at the end of the year you can say that you'll be better next year. But this was our season. This was our chance to go all the way." "The guys felt that a national championship was well within their reach," Raider head coach Jeff Olson said. "The game had a lot of twists and turns. We went from being ahead with two minutes to play with our defense - which we've counted on all year - out on the field then all of a sudden we are down with 30 seconds to play. It was a tough one, but that's the type of game you expect when you get to the Final 8." A freak snowfall hit Ashland starting around 7:30 a.m. Saturday and when it hadn't let up by kickoff, all ideas of the wide-open offensive show that many expected had been thrown out the window. The first half was a struggle for both teams on the offensive side of the ball. Even though neither team had even played a game in rain this year, Carroll adapted its offense with a bunch of quick hitting passes and abandoned its running game. SOU took a little time before it jumped ship on the run. "I didn't want to send the team the message that we were in trouble," Olson said. "What hurt us the most in the first half was field position. We couldn't get out of our end of the field." Carroll had their own problems moving the ball. The lone score in the first 35 minutes of the game was a 19-yard field goal by Carroll's Rhett Crites at the end of the first quarter after the Fighting Saints had tackled SOU punter Jeff Hamilton back at the SOU 17 after a bad snap. "It was really hard to adjust to playing in the snow," Raider wide receiver Leo Stoddard said. "You couldn't really run and you couldn't stop and make any cuts." Midway through the third quarter after SOU's Dusty McGrorty had fumbled, senior quarterback Travis Mari told offensive coordinator Matt Sayre to put the ball in his hands and he'd get him a win. "He struggled early in the game but when it came down to it he wanted us to jump on his shoulders," Olson said. "It was just a will to win." After the SOU defense held and Crites missed a 25-yard field goal, Mari did all he could to live up to that promise. The transfer from Humboldt State went 5-for-7 passing and led the Raiders on a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard Bill Jolin score and a 6-3 SOU lead at the end of the third quarter, setting the stage for a wild final 12 minutes of football. "We had a sense of urgency," said Stoddard, who had three catches for 36 yards on the drive. "We knew we had to go out and make some plays." Emmert had the same idea for the Saints. The senior quarterback teamed up with senior wideout Nick Carrell for three passes on the ensuing drive, the last one going for 13 yards and giving the Saints a 9-6 lead. After SOU was forced to punt, an interception by junior Brad Kudlac gave SOU the ball at its own 5-yard line. A false start pushed it back to the 3, but that didn't bother Mari. After a 3-yard run by McGrorty, Mari completed back-to-back passes to junior Adam Clinton and freshman Bobby Poeltl. A pass interference call moved the ball out to the SOU 30 and then back-to-back 11-yard completions to Stoddard gave SOU a first-and-10 at the Carroll 48. Six completions later and two rushes by Mari, and the Raiders had the lead again at 13-9 on a 7-yard touchdown catch by Stoddard. Mari went 10-for-11 on the drive to put SOU on the doorstep of the national semifinals and sent 2,650 screaming and frozen Raider fans into a frenzy. But within minutes the boisterous crowd would go from joy to sadness as Emmert would not be denied in getting the Saints to the semis for the second straight year. After back-to-back incompletions, Emmert ran it himself for 12 yards and a first down. A completion to Carrell gave the Saints another first down and a pass interference call set up a first-and-10 at the SOU 33. Emmert found All-American tight end Casey Fitzsimmons for a 13-yard catch at the SOU 20. After a 6-yard completion to Fitzsimmons and a near interception by SOU defensive back Nick Daniken, Emmert again took off on the run and dived to the SOU 9 for another first down and set up the game-winning pass to Zawacki. "Their quarterback made some unbelievable plays at the end of the game," Malmstrom said. "Both teams went out and put their hearts on the line." "They came down and executed on a couple third downs and that really hurt us," Olson said. "We tipped a couple balls and couldn't get our hands on them." SOU got to the Carroll 38 on their final play but were not close enough to attempt a field goal and ended up fumbling the ball as time expired. Emmert passed for 276 yards on 27 of 54 attempts, while Mari went 26-for-48 for 193 yards. "That second half you had two phenomenal quarterbacks making some big plays," Olson said. Stoddard finished the game with 13 catches for 109 yards. Kudlac led the Raider defense with eight tackles, while Daniken and senior Erube Magana each had seven stops. Junior Gilbert Roman finished the game with 2.5 sacks. So after 14 years away from the playoffs the Raiders made a splash in the 2001 season, only to be stopped in the NAIA quarterfinals. But Olson says his Raiders have no reason to hang their heads. "There's still more to do but we made a statement that we belong," the sixth-year coach said. "These seniors left a mindset that we are a national playoff caliber program. The experience we got is invaluable." Email your... 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