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SOU turns out the Lights Mail Tribune / Andrew Mariman Southern Oregon running back Dusty McGrorty, right, sprints away from Montana State-Northern's Josh Kirby in Saturday's game. By KRIS HENRY ASHLAND - Travis Mari considered his options after a roller-coaster ride last year at Humboldt State. After starting at quarterback for the Lumberjacks as a freshman and sophomore, a coaching change left him in a two-man rotation as a junior. And in that rotation, Mari was considered the No. 2 option despite finishing his three seasons ranked third on the school's career passing list. "I didn't want to go through that another year," said Mari, who wasn't sure anyone would take a chance on a senior transfer. Southern Oregon coach Jeff Olson took that chance, and the Raiders and their fans were the beneficiaries of that Saturday afternoon as SOU steamrolled Montana State-Northern, 48-6, at Raider Stadium. Mari passed for 214 yards and two touchdowns in 21/2 quarters, freeing space for an already productive ground game as SOU showed its most balanced attack in years. The Raiders (1-0) passed for 272 yards and rushed for 272, tallying the school's most prolific offensive output (544 yards) since 1993. "It felt good today to play that well," said Mari, who had 204 yards passing at halftime. "There weren't too many games down there (at Humboldt State) like this the past two years." Even with a strong resume heading into the season, the 6-foot-2, 215-pounder felt he had to prove something to his teammates in Saturday's opener. "I knew that they had faith in me, but there's a difference in having faith in practice and in a game," said Mari. "Today I had to go out and prove that I could play." It didn't take long for Mari to make his mark, hitting Leo Stoddard for a 14-yard gain on SOU's first play of the game. Dusty McGrorty, who finished the day with 178 yards rushing and four touchdowns, took over from there. The steady sophomore carried the ball for 29 yards on the next four plays, capping the drive with a 13-yard dash to the end zone. After the two teams traded turnovers, including a fumbled punt by the Lights' Brenden Dennehy, Mari struck quickly with a 21-yard TD pass to Nate VanderKley to give SOU a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. McGrorty added his second score on a 12-yard run with 3:15 to play in the half. Montana State-Northern (1-2), which struggled throughout the contest, found a glimmer of hope when Travis Crawford raced untouched on the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. Mari and company answered in unconventional style for the Raiders, with the quarterback scrambling 19 yards, then connecting with Carl Dice for 18 yards and Danny Negra for 43 in a 36-second drive that covered 80 yards. "Danny came back and made a tremendous play on a bad throw," Mari said of his second TD. "He bailed me out there, but that was just a case of first-game mistakes. I like to throw deep every now and then. The timing was a little off on a couple of them, but we'll clear that up." SOU's blocking scheme was also a little off in the first half as McGrorty needed 12 carries to reach 67 yards. But with a tiring Montana State-Northern defense and improved efforts from the Raiders, McGrorty broke loose to start the second half and essentially turned out the Lights. McGrorty dashed right on the third play of the second half, bounced off two defenders and then outraced everyone to the end zone for a 67-yard score and a 34-6 SOU lead. After the stingy Raider defense forced a punt, Nick Daniken's return put his team back in scoring position. Once again, McGrorty took care of business quickly as he took the ensuing handoff 45 yards to paydirt. "The 'O' line, fullbacks and receivers, everybody just got their blocking down," McGrorty said of his second-half success. "We came out for the second half thinking the score was 0-0 and wanting to put some points on the board. That was a great way to start it off." The back-to-back scoring runs signaled the end of the day for McGrorty, who tied his career- high with four scores. "I knew that Dusty was going to do that," said Mari. "I could tell that they were tired, and I knew that if we came out strong, they wouldn't put up much of a fight in the second half. When we came out, we did exactly that. Dusty had those two big runs, and that was pretty much the game." Backup quarterback Dan Woodward tacked on a 1-yard TD run to cap the scoring on SOU's next series. Woodward went 4-for-5 passing for 48 yards in his return to SOU after a two-year absence. The most important factor for Olson's crew was that the Raiders showed the kind of balance that should make for many a sleepless night for those trying to defend SOU this season. "Now, hopefully, opponents have to worry about us going deep on them because we're not going to be as one dimensional as we have been in the past," said Olson. Sharing the spotlight will be just fine for McGrorty. "I want the other teams to look at us and think of our offense as a threat," he said. "Not just rushing but passing the ball, too. I want the defenses to respect our entire offense." Just the notion of regaining some respect seemed to be enough for Mari on Saturday. "I'm just happy to be a Raider," he said. "So far so good, but we've got eight more to go." SOU continues its three-game homestand next Saturday at 6 p.m. against fifth-ranked Linfield. At Raider Stadium Montana State-Northern 0 6 0 0 -6 Southern Oregon 14 14 20 0 -48 SOU - McGrorty 13 run (Manning kick) SOU - VanderKley 21 pass from Mari (Manning kick) SOU - McGrorty 12 run (Manning kick) MSN - Crawford 94 kickoff return (kick blocked) SOU - Negra 43 pass from Mari (Manning kick) SOU - McGrorty 67 run (kick blocked) SOU - McGrorty 45 run (Manning kick) SOU - Woodward 1 run (Manning kick) TEAM STATISTICS MSN SOU First Downs 12 20 Rushes-yards 35-83 38-272 Passing yards 153 272 Comp-Att-Int 15-32-2 18-27-0 Total yards 236 544 Punts 8-36.3 5-30.8 Fumbles-lost 5-3 3-2 Penalties-yards 7-62 14-100 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING Montana State-Northern - Olsen 5-26, Jackson 7-16, Ramsey 5-14, Crawford 4-11,Utterback 6-10, Larson 2-7, Yeager 1-2, Kerkes 5-(-3). Southern Oregon - McGrorty 15-178, Jolin 11-39, Mari 4-24, Wilson 3-21, Woodward 2-12, Humble 3-(-2). PASSING Montana State-Northern - Kerkes 12-27-1 for 138, Jackson 3-3-0 for 15, Hess 0-2-1 for 0. Southern Oregon - Mari 14-22-0 for 214, Woodward 4-5-0 for 58. RECEIVING Montana State-Northern - Woodward 6-42, Yeager 3-35, Smith 3-31, Ramsey 1-21, Crawford 1-15, Larson 1-9. Southern Oregon - Stoddard 3-63, Dice 3-46, VanderKley 3-44, Auoriri 2-46, McGrorty 2-1, Negra 1-43, Clinton 1-13, Thompson 1-8, Poeltl 1-4, Jolin 1-4. 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.