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SOU hosts No. 23 Carroll for homecoming By SOU Sports Information Updated: Nov 03, 2022 06:10 PM A A ASHLAND — Late slip-ups have plagued the Southern Oregon University football team against the NAIA Top 25 to this point. With No. 23-ranked Carroll (Mont.) coming to town, the Raiders get another shot Saturday afternoon on homecoming weekend. SOU (3-5) and Saints (6-2) kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday in the penultimate game of the regular season at Raider Stadium. While the Raiders are left to play for a chance to get to .500, the Saints still have postseason aspirations as they stand tied for second place in the Frontier Conference. College of Idaho retained a one-game lead in first place last week, ducking SOU’s upset bid with a 28-24 win sealed by Jon Schofield’s 4-yard touchdown run with 22 seconds left. The Raiders had a 21-14 halftime lead, lost it on Jacob Arms’ 57-yard pick-six in the third quarter, then went up 24-21 with 3:03 remaining when Cesar Ruiz nailed a 30-yard field goal. The Yotes responded and subsequently stayed at No. 12 in this week’s NAIA Top 25. Montana Tech climbed three spots to No. 20 after hanging on to defeat Rocky Mountain (Mont.), 20-17, and Carroll jumped two spots to No. 23 with a 37-3 thumping of Eastern Oregon. The Saints held on to win the first matchup on Sept. 24 in Helena, 26-14, after SOU lost three fumbles in the first half to go down 13-0. The Raiders had a chance to get the ball back late down 20-14, but on fourth-and-1 with two minutes to play Baxter Tuggle exploded through the line for a 41-yard, game-clinching TD run. The Saints are in the playoff hunt despite a middling offense, giving up the fewest points per game (13.8) in the Frontier and conceding six points combined over their last three. They concede the fewest yards per game (224) in the conference by a margin of 53 yards, and their rush-defense is especially stingy at just 2.3 yards allowed per attempt. Game notes — Senior linebacker Jake Regino had another big game last week with 13 tackles, his sixth double-figure outing. He still leads the Frontier at 11.5 tackles per game — the next man on the list is at 8.8 — and ranks fifth among all NAIA players. With eight more tackles, he’d become the fourth Raider in the Frontier era (2012-present) to register 100 tackles in the regular season. — With 164 career receptions, Christian Graney has moved into the No. 3 spot on SOU’s all-time list. The senior would need 185 more reception yards to become the 11th Raider to reach 2,000. In his most recent home appearance, a 49-14 win over Montana Western, Graney broke SOU’s single-game reception yardage record with 267 on 10 catches. On the Frontier leaderboard, he’s No. 1 in receptions (44) and No. 3 in reception yards per game (80.9). — Before missing last week due to injury, Gunner Yates exploded for 212 rushing yards and three TDs on 18 carries over just 2 1/2 quarters of work at Montana Tech. The true freshman is the first Raider to eclipse 200 rushing yards in one game since 2014. Yates has scored nine TDs (8 rushing) over his last four outings and leads the conference in yards per rush at 6.7. — Blake Asciutto remains the Frontier’s leader in passing yards per game (233.8) and is tied with UMW’s Jon Jund for the TD passes lead (16). — Seth Miller, Cente Borja and Stokes Botelho each had an interception last week. Before that, three different Raiders hadn’t collected one in the same game since 2017. It marked a step in the right direction in the takeaway department, where the Raiders are last in the Frontier with 11. They’re giving up 6.5 yards per pass and 4.1 per rush — their best mark in the former category since 2015, and their best in the latter since 2018. — This game marks the Raiders’ fifth against a nationally-ranked opponent, the most they’ve faced in a regular season since joining the Frontier. They’ve dropped six in a row against the NAIA Top 25 since defeating then-No. 18 Eastern Oregon on Oct. 2 of last year. SOU's Blake Asciutto makes a pass for a first down earlier this season at Raider Stadium in Ashland. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune]