Document text
SOU comes up short Photo by Roy Musitelli / Mail Tribune Southern Oregon quarterback Travis Mari (10) looks for an open receiver through the snow in Saturday's quarterfinal game against Carroll College. The Raiders fail in their bid to reach the semifinals after Carroll College scores in the final seconds By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune ASHLAND - Southern Oregon made rising to the occasion an art form in driving to the quarterfinals of the NAIA Championship Series. When challenged this season, the seventh-ranked Raiders bowed their backs and offered an answer at each turn. With its back to the wall Saturday against fourth-ranked Carroll College, the SOU football team once again held firm in mounting scoring drives of 80 and 97 yards to pull ahead of the Fighting Saints at a slushy Raider Stadium. Unfortunately for SOU fans hoping for the school's first-ever berth in the NAIA semifinals, Carroll College (10-1) showed it can rise to the occasion as well. Home-crowd hysterics following a 7-yard scoring pass from Travis Mari to Leo Stoddard with 2:21 to play soon turned into a deafening silence. With 30 seconds left, Carroll's Zack Zawacki hauled in a 9-yard pass from J.D. Emmert to help the Saints rally for a 16-13 win in front of 2,650 stunned onlookers. "That was a big change in feelings at the end," said Stoddard, who had a game-high 13 receptions for 109 yards and what he believed to be the game-winning TD. "It went from the best feeling in the world to the worst in the world in two minutes. That's pretty hard on your heart." Unless you were on the Carroll College sideline. "That's what you dream about as a quarterback," said Emmert. "All you can ask for in the playoffs is a chance to go down the field and win the game in the last minute. That was just amazing." Emmert earned offensive player of the game honors by completing 27 of 54 passes for 276 yards, including 4 of 8 for 32 on the final drive. More importantly, he twice turned third-down plays destined to go nowhere into first downs with some determined scrambling. SOU (9-2) appeared to have the Saints in prime position following Stoddard's score, as Emmert's first two passes fell incomplete, one thanks to a Erube Maga�a deflection. On third down, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Saints quarterback somehow eluded a hard-charging rush by the Raiders, found an opening and slammed into two SOU players just beyond the first-down marker. "I just saw the seam open up and I took it and luckily got 11 yards out of it," said Emmert. After a pass-interference call on cornerback Vaughn Morris put the Saints in Raider territory at the 33-yard-line, strong safety Brad Kudlac nearly hauled in his second interception of the game with a diving effort. Given another second chance, Emmert hit tight end Casey Fitzsimmons for a 13-yard gain. Emmert's next pass got away from him and found its way to free safety Nick Daniken, but the ruling on the field was that the ball hit the ground before Daniken's apparent interception. After a 6-yard completion to Fitzsimmons put the ball at the 14, Emmert's feet once again took over with 54 seconds to play. He was flushed from the pocket but was still able to pick up 5 yards took convert on third-and-four. Next, Emmert connected with Zawacki in the end zone for Zawacki's only reception. Even with a 180-degree turn in emotions, there was still a feeling on the SOU sidelines that the Raiders had a chance - even with only 30 seconds on the clock. "I had all the faith in the world with Daniken back there," sophomore Dusty McGrorty said of SOU's kickoff specialist. "I knew he could get the job done if he had to." Sure enough, Daniken came through with a return to near midfield with 22 seconds remaining. Needing to get inside the 30 to give kicker Jason Manning a chance at tying the contest, Mari hit Adam Clinton on a quick-out pattern for 11 yards and then found Danny Negra for 4 yards at the Carroll 42. But Negra was held up by the Saints and the clock ticked down to four seconds before SOU could call its final timeout. SOU's last gasp was doomed from the start as the Saints quickly collapsed the pocket and flushed Mari, who fumbled the ball while trying in vain to escape. Carroll's Tyler Maxwell pounced on the loose ball to close out the contest. Not long after, the tears began to flow on SOU's side of the field. "We were so close," said an exhausted Maga�a. "For it to go down to the last couple minutes and we couldn't stop them, it hurts. Everybody played their ass off today because we wanted it bad, but they were a good team." Carroll College managed its first lead with 25 seconds left in the first quarter on a drive set up by a bobbled snap by punter Jeff Hamilton, who was swarmed over by the Saints at SOU's 17. Even with the short field, the gritty Raider defense held Carroll to a 19-yard field goal by Rhett Crites. While the Raiders struggled to get anything going offensively in the first half, Carroll used prime field position thanks to SOU's offensive woes and a short passing game to keep the Raiders on their heels. Thanks to an interception in the end zone by cornerback Toby Walker, SOU managed to go into halftime trailing only 3-0. That number nearly doubled midway through the third quarter after a McGrorty fumble gave the Saints a first down at SOU's 9. Once again, the Raider defense forced a field goal attempt, only this time Crites pushed a 26-yard effort wide right. Finally taking a page from Carroll's playbook, SOU turned to short passes of its own to start moving up the field on the ensuing drive. With tailback Bill Jolin providing some extra time for Mari with key blocks, the senior QB was able to locate Stoddard and Elijah Jordan time and again in driving 80 yards in 10 plays. Jolin capped the drive with a 1-yard burst into the end zone. A missed extra-point attempt by Manning left SOU's lead at 6-3 with 49 seconds to play in the third quarter. Emmert and company answered back with a drive of their own, with receiver Nick Carrell finding room in the SOU secondary three times for 63 yards - the last coming on a 13-yard scoring pass from Emmert. After SOU was forced to punt, Carroll drove to the SOU 37 before being undone by an illegal pass from Emmert on a third-and-19 play. Once again flushed from the pocket, Emmert rolled right and hurled a pass toward the end zone just after he stepped over the line of scrimmage. Kudlac intercepted Emmert's pass at the 5, and instead of pushing the Saints back near midfield with the penalty, SOU opted to take the ball at the 5 with about nine minutes remaining. What seemed like a questionable decision at the time turned into a showpiece for the skills of Mari and his fleet flock of receivers. After a false start pushed SOU back to its own 3, the Raiders came out firing. Mari used quick slants to Stoddard, Jordan and Bobby Poeltl and a pass-interference call on a deep pass to Negra to move downfield. Stoddard then took charge, hauling in what looked to be the game-winner. "We had a sense of urgency," Stoddard said of SOU's 97-yard drive. "We had to get going if we were going to win." And from the look of SOU's sideline, the Raiders truly believed they did have the game won. "Our defense was playing excellent," McGrorty said in capturing the sideline hysteria. "I seriously thought we had the game in the bag." Had a little luck gone their way, McGrorty would have been correct. "A couple tipped balls and a couple overthrows on that last drive unfortunately didn't go our way," said SOU coach Jeff Olson. "But you have to hand it to them. That was a great drive they had at the end there." Almost as impressive as SOU's drive to the quarterfinals. At Raider Stadium Carroll 3 0 0 13 -16 Southern Oregon 0 0 6 7 -13 CC - FG 19 Crites SOU - Jolin 1 run (kick failed) CC - Carrell 13 pass from Emmert (kick failed) SOU - Stoddard 7 pass from Mari (Manning kick) CC - Zawacki 9 pass from Emmert (Crites kick) TEAM STATISTICS CC / SOU First Downs 22 / 22 Rushes-yards 20-29 / 27-40 Passing yards 276 / 193 Comp-Att-Int 27-54-2 / 26-48-0 Total yards 305 / 233 Punts 8-34.6 / 10-34.1 Fumbles-lost 0-0 / 3-2 Penalties-yards 13-114 / 10-105 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING Carroll College - Emmert 13-26, Morris 7-3. Southern Oregon - McGrorty 13-37, Mari 8-15, Jolin 5-3, Hamilton 1-(minus 15). PASSING Carroll College - Emmert 27-54-2 276. Southern Oregon - Mari 26-48-0 193. RECEIVING Carroll College - Fitzsimmons 10-70, Carrell 5-111, Wigen 5-53, Morris 3-18, Wall 2-9, Zawacki 1-9, Garreffa 1-6. Southern Oregon - Stoddard 13-109, Negra 4-31, Poeltl 2-14, Clinton 2-12, Jordan 2-11, McGrorty 2-10, Dice 1-6. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.