Lindsey Branch, UMW Sports Information
ASHLAND, Ore. – The no. 4 ranked Montana Western Football (3-1) suffered their first loss of the season this afternoon in a road matchup against the no. 14 ranked Southern Oregon Raiders.
Despite racking up 438 yards on offense, the Bulldogs struggled on third and fourth down, going two of 12 on third downs and two of four on fourth down attempts.
"Our guys played hard today. SOU has a really good team and we missed several scoring opportunities on the goal line and a few stops on defense that disabled us from pulling it off in the end," Head Coach Ryan Nourse said. "I am proud with the effort and fight and we will get back after it and improve in the areas we fell short."
How It Happened
After forcing the powerful Bulldog offense to a quick three and out on their opening drive, the Raiders were the first to put points on the board. They would score off of the NAIA rushing leader Gunner Yates' 22-yard touchdown rush that capped a short five play and 56-yard drive.
With 5:16 left in the first, John Mears got the Bulldogs their first score of the game with a 43-yard field goal.
The Bulldog defense held strong to give the ball to the Bulldog offense with two minutes remaining in the first. After an 11-play drive that brought the Bulldogs down to the 10-yard line with 10:49 left in the second quarter, the Raiders defense stood tall and stopped the Bulldogs on fourth down to force the Bulldogs' second turnover on downs of the season.
After forcing a three and out, the Bulldogs hit their stride on offense and took their first lead of the matchup at 10-7 when Michael Palandri hit Jake Humphrey for a 24-yard touchdown pass, the first receiving touchdown of Humphry's career.
With 11 seconds on the clock until half, the Raiders reclaimed the lead and took a 13-10 lead into the half.
SOU got the ball to start the second half and ran close to six minutes off the clock prior to scoring on a pass to the corner of the end zone to take a two-score lead at 21-10. They would add another score after forcing the Bulldogs to a quick three and out on the following drive, taking a 28-10 lead with 6:19 left in the third.
The Bulldogs were able to bring the game back to a two-possession game when Mears hit his second field goal of the game from 33 yards out with under five minutes to play in the third.
A sack by Noah Rimmer on SOU's following drive stopped the Raiders in their tracks and gave the Bulldog offense some life heading into the fourth quarter. Despite the positive drive, UMW was stifled by penalties and the Raider defense held the Bulldogs to a turnover on downs on the SOU 1-yard line.
After getting a stop once more on defense, the Bulldogs scored on the following drive on a 23-yard pass to Eli Nourse to close the gap back to 28-19.
Late excitement came as the Bulldogs recovered a successful onside kick and scored once more as Palandri connected with Nourse on a 19-yard pass. Despite closing the gap back within two at 28-26, the Bulldogs were unable pull off a second onside kick and SOU closed the game out on top.
Notables
The Bulldogs remain winless in their nine games in Ashland and are now 5-12 in the history between the two schools.
UMW's defense held the Raiders to a below average 332 total yards on offense. SOU has averaged 462.5 yards per game.
Palandri threw for 371 yards in the air and three touchdowns.
Nourse led the Bulldog receiving corps with 111 yards in the air on eight receptions and had two touchdowns.
Jace Fitzgerald led the defense with 11 total tackles.
Up Next
Western will take next week off from action and will prepare for another top ten matchup with the no. 10 ranked Montana Tech at Bulldog Stadium on Oct. 12 at 1 p.m.
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