Document text
Raiders rout McKendree Photo by Jim Craven / Mail Tribune SOU's Leo Stoddard, right, and Elijah Jordan, center, congratulate Dusty McGrorty (25) after he scored a touchdown. McGrorty finished with 100 yards on 26 carries and three scores, two rushing and one receiving. Seventh-ranked SOU manhandles the Bearcats in its first playoff appearance in 14 seasons By KRIS HENRY ASHLAND - If there's something the Southern Oregon football team enjoys, it's a challenge. On paper, that's exactly what 16th-ranked McKendree College offered for Saturday's first-round NAIA Championship Series game at Raider Stadium. On the field was another story. Seventh-ranked Southern Oregon (9-1) manhandled the Bearcats 54-10 on Saturday in one of the Raiders' most dominating efforts of the season. "I think we did have a chip on our shoulders today," said SOU senior quarterback Travis Mari. "When you look at it on paper, it looked like it would be a defensive matchup. But seeing them on film, I was confident we'd be able to move the ball on them and we came out and proved it." McKendree (8-3) entered Saturday's game allowing an NAIA-low 11.9 points per game. SOU had that much three minutes into the second quarter. The Bearcats were ranked eighth in team defense, allowing 243.3 yards per game. The Raiders had 271 at halftime. On offense, McKendree came in averaging 246.6 yards rushing per game. The Bearcats could only muster 54 yards on 20 carries by halftime and finished with 204 on 48 carries thanks to a fourth-quarter surge against SOU's backups. Throw out any "paper" number and the Raiders most likely chewed it up and spit it out Saturday afternoon in front of a fired-up crowd of 2,512. "The thing we couldn't tell on the film was their quickness, and they were just a lot quicker than what we thought they'd be," said McKendree coach Carl Poelker. "And physically we couldn't dent them. We couldn't get people off against their line and their quarterback did a hell of a job." Mari completed 15 of 23 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 23 TD tosses on the season to tie a school record set by Mark Helfrich in 1993. The Raiders racked up 444 yards of total offense, with Dusty McGrorty upholding his billing as the NAIA's leading scorer as he reached the end zone three times. McGrorty finished with 100 yards on 26 carries, pushing him over the 1,000-yard mark for the second straight year as SOU continued its streak of six consecutive seasons with a 1,000-yard rusher. Making it that much more special for the splendid sophomore was the fact that his All-American predecessor, Griff Yates, was on hand. McGrorty actually slipped away for an impromptu conference with Yates late in the fourth quarter. "He was just telling me how pumped up he is for us and how he's wishing he could be in my shoes right now," said McGrorty. "But he's one of the building blocks that got us here." Yates' presence, and that of several other former Raiders, was just a reminder of what is driving this year's cast. "We're playing for all the alumni right now," said McGrorty. "Me and Griff were good buddies when he was here and it's good to see him here cheering me on like I was cheering him on when I was a redshirt freshman." Keeping in line with his understated nature - and the psyche of the entire SOU team - McGrorty downplayed Saturday's record-setting efforts. "Those are bonuses," he said. "The wins are what really count." Saturday's win helped trim the required number to two in SOU's hunt to play in the national championship game. The Raiders will learn today who they will face - and where - in next Saturday's national quarterfinals. SOU has made a bid to host that game as well. Other winners Saturday in the 16-team NAIA Championship Series were top-ranked Georgetown, Ky., third-ranked Evangel, Mo., fourth-ranked Carroll, Mont., fifth-ranked Sioux Falls, S.D., sixth-ranked Benedictine, Kan., eighth-ranked Concordia, Neb., and 15th-ranked Cambellsville, Ky. SOU wasted little time in sending a message that it was ready for whatever McKendree had to offer as Leo Stoddard gave the Raiders prime field position with a kickoff return to the 42-yard-line. Mari and McGrorty provided a nice 1-2 punch on the opening drive as the Raiders completed a six-play, 58-yard scoring drive in less than two minutes of action. McGrorty capped the drive with a 1-yard score behind a crushing lead block from Jesse Thompson. After McKendree failed to get a first down, the Raiders once again rolled down the field, capping a 10-play drive with a 41-yard field goal by Jason Manning for a 10-0 lead just seen minutes into the game. All good signs for SOU, and certainly not for a one-dimensional McKendree squad used to controlling the line of scrimmage and time of possession. "You could tell right away we were having trouble on the line of scrimmage, offensively and defensively," said Poelker. "When that happens, particularly in our style, we're in trouble." Sure enough, the Bearcats continued to be in trouble as the Raiders continually took over the ball around midfield and scored on nine of their 11 possessions. The most inventive of those scores was a 24-yard double pass from Mari backwards to Stoddard to a wide open Danny Negra late in the second quarter. "That's a combination of defense and special teams setting us up with a short field," Mari said of SOU's scoring barrage. "That makes it tremendously easier on us. Those two components are a big reason why we scored so much tonight." Even when McKendree was able to cut into SOU's 26-0 halftime lead with a 24-yard field goal by Brian Schneider on the opening drive of the third quarter, the Raiders had an answer. That answer came in the form of Nick Daniken, who bobbled the ensuing kickoff and then baffled the Bearcats as he raced 95 yards to paydirt - breaking a Northwest small-college record with his fourth kickoff return for a touchdown. "You could just see in everyone's eyes that we were going to do something with it," the junior said of the special teams huddle following McKendree's field goal. "Then all 10 guys just sold out and did their job. All I did was run up the field. I had the easy part." At Raider Stadium McKendree College ................0 0 10 0 -10 Southern Oregon ................10 16 21 7 -54 SOU - McGrorty 1 run (Manning kick) SOU - FG Manning 41 SOU - FG Manning 27 SOU - McGrorty 29 pass from Mari (pass failed) SOU - Negra 24 pass from Stoddard (Manning kick) M - FG Schneider 24 SOU - Daniken 95 kickoff return (Manning kick) SOU - McGrorty 2 run (Manning kick) SOU - Jordan 23 pass from Mari (Manning kick) M - Cofty 28 run (Schneider kick) SOU - Jolin 17 run (Manning kick) TEAM STATISTICS McK SOU First Downs 16 24 Rushes-yards 48-204 45-190 Passing yards 22 254 Comp-Att-Int 2-14-0 16-25-0 Total yards 226 444 Punts 6-35.2 2-38 Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0 Penalties-yards 4-20 6-64 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING McKendree College - Cofty 7-62, Albertini 6-37, Roland 8-28, Walter 6-26, Peterson 1-17, King 5-17, Pankey 10-7, Stottler 1-5, Yelton 3-4, Stewart 1-1. Southern Oregon - McGrorty 26-100, Jolin 10-40, Wilson 3-31, Woodward 1-12, Thompson 1-8, Mari 4-(-1). PASSING McKendree College - Pankey 2-14-0 22. Southern Oregon - Mari 15-23-0 230, Stoddard 1-1-0 24, Woodward 0-1-0 0. RECEIVING McKendree College - Cofty 1-18, Benhoff 1-4. Southern Oregon - Stoddard 3-47, Negra 2-56, Jordan 2-38, McGrorty 2-37, Clinton 2-29, Poeltl 2-27, VanderKley 2-20, Dice 1-0. 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.