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Raiders struggle in season-opening loss to Rocky By Danny Penza Updated: Aug 27, 2022 05:59 PM A A 5 View all photos ASHLAND — Southern Oregon University head coach Charlie Hall is a firm believer in the fact that his team’s biggest improvement will come from Week 1 to Week 2. After Week 1, the Raiders showed that there’s still plenty of room for improvement. SOU was unable to keep pace with quarterback Nathan Dick and the No. 19-ranked Rocky Mountain College offense Saturday, playing catch-up all afternoon in a 27-10 season-opening loss at Raider Stadium. “Rocky did a nice job and their plan was pretty good,” said Hall.”They kept in front of the chains and they put together some drives, had some explosive plays and we weren’t able to put a cap on it. Conversely, we weren’t that — we were behind the chains, we didn’t have as many first-down plays as we would have liked to, as many explosive plays as we would have liked to. They did the kind of things that we wanted to do, so give them credit for that.” To make matters worse for the Raiders (0-1, 0-1 Frontier Conference), senior quarterback Matt Struck re-injured his right shoulder while attempting a second-quarter pass. The former Crater High standout suffered a separated shoulder last year that cost him the final four games of the season. Hall said Saturday’s injury was not as bad as the SOU training staff might have originally feared, but they will know more about the severity and a timetable for recovery when Struck undergoes scans Sunday. “They’re fairly optimistic he can get back and it’s not a season-ending injury,” said Hall. Sophomore Blake Asciutto played the rest of the way after Struck — who was limited in the offseason as he worked his way back to 100% — came off injured during the Raiders’ fourth drive of the game. Asciutto, who started SOU’s final three games in Struck’s absence last season, got the Raiders as close as 20-10 with 8:07 to go when he connected on a 7-yard touchdown pass to receiver Ben Graziani. Asciutto completed 15 of 34 passes for 161 yards with a touchdown and one interception. His lone interception was Rocky’s only forced turnover of the afternoon following a tipped pass at the line with 5:27 remaining, and essentially put an end to any sort of late SOU comeback. “I think he did a nice job but I think he got a little ramped up and missed some high throws,” said Hall of Asciutto. “The thing about Blake is that he’s got game experience from last year, he’s got tons of reps from when Matt was rehabbing, so it’s not like he’s a guy who gets minimal reps. His time will come when he gets a win for the Raiders.” Even before Struck’s injury the Raiders were having trouble sustaining drives and getting deep into the Battlin’ Bears’ territory. The Raiders’ first two drives of the game saw them reach Rocky Mountain’s side of the field but neither resulted in points. The first saw kicker Cesar Ruiz miss a 45-yard field goal just short, while the Rocky defense forced SOU to punt after the Raiders were unable to convert on third-and-14. “Just penalties, getting behind the sticks, having negative plays on first down really killed us,” said Graziani. “Having those third-and-longs are tough and there’s no real good play call for third-and-long, so getting in those spots were tough for us. I felt like we moved the ball pretty well, though, and we just needed to finish those drives.” RMC (1-0, 1-0) took the lead on the final offensive play of the first quarter, as Dick connected on a 7-yard touchdown pass to running back Zaire Wilcox. Dick then added a 14-yard touchdown run of his own midway through the second quarter before the Battlin’ Bears took a 17-0 lead into the half. Dick, an all-Frontier Conference pick last season, and Wilcox combined for 215 of Rocky’s 246 yards on the ground. Dick was 16-of-30 for 210 yards with a pair of TD passes and interceptions, both caught by SOU defensive back Dyllon Daniels in the third quarter. “We watched him all week on film and that was one of our biggest keys to victory — tackle the quarterback,” said SOU senior linebacker Jake Ragino, who tied a career high with 12 tackles Saturday. “We knew he was a shifty guy and knew what he was capable of, but I think once we were able to tackle him and key in on him, it helped the game plan a little bit. But he’s a shifty dude, he’s a good quarterback.” As SOU’s offense struggled to get going in lieu of Struck’s injury, Rocky continued to execute through the air and on the ground. The Battlin’ Bears outgained the Raiders by almost a 2-to-1 margin in the first half, with SOU recording just 117 yards of total offense going into halftime. For the game, RMC finished with 456 yards to SOU’s 269. “The biggest issue we came out with was just reading our keys and tackling,” said Ragino. “They say it all the time that the first game is when tackling is going to be the worst, but we tried to break that myth. Our tackling just wasn’t as great as it needs to be. “I think we were all a little over-antsy to go get that big hit and got a little ahead of ourselves.” Dating back to the midway point of last season, the Raiders have not scored 20 points or more in their last six games, with all six of those being losses. “Their offense is good and we knew we needed to keep up, so getting behind the sticks just killed us,” said Graziani. “Stalling out on those drives, I thought we ran the ball pretty well, but having a penalty here or there just kills a drive. We’ve just got to move on from it.” Hall made his postgame talk short and sweet: It’s one week, the season isn’t determined this weekend. SOU faces its first road test next Saturday when it travels to face Montana State-Northern (0-1). The Lights, who lost 31-3 to College of Idaho on Saturday, are coached by former Raiders defensive coordinator Jerome Souers, who was hired at Northern back in mid-January. “The (three first-place) teams in our conference all had three losses last year, so we’re moving forward,” said Graziani. “We’re looking forward to Northern next week on the road. They have some of our old coaches from last year, so I’m sure it will be a little bit of bad blood, but we’re ready to get after it.” Reaching reporter Danny Penza at 541-776-4469 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @penzatopaper. Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune SOU's Jackson Clemmer hurdles a Rocky Mountain defender for extra yards in the second half at Raider Stadium in Ashland Saturday. Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune SOU's Deshawn Craig looses his helmet tackling Rocky Mountain's quarterback Nathan Dick during the second quarter at Raider Stadium in Ashland Saturday. Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune SOU quarterback Blake Asciutto makes a throw under pressure against Rocky Mountain at Raider Stadium in Ashland Saturday. Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune SOU's Chriatian Graney looks for extra yards after a catch during the third quarter against Rocky Mountain at Raider Stadium in Ashland Saturday. Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune SOU's Ben Graziani secures a pass against Rocky Mountain at Raider Stadium in Ashland Saturday.