SOU Raiders 223 Extra Yards Seal Victory 45-27 Over College of Idaho

ASHLAND, Ore — The Saturday, September 21 game between SOU and the College of Idaho increased the Raiders winning game stats to eight of the nine games played since last season, giving them a 3-0 start for the first time since 2018. The final Raiders vs Idaho score was 45-27.

Raiders vs College of Idaho Game Highlights

In 1998, Field Yates’ father Griff set the Raider record for rushing yards in a game at 348. At last night’s game, the younger Yates was up to 272 with 4 minutes left in the third quarter and by the end, SOU had 572 total yards on the board. Yates now tied for the NAIA lead with nine rushing touchdowns this season.

The first TD from the Yotes came midway through the period. Still, at 2:14 before halftime, Yates dashed into the middle of the defense, staying on his feet as all around him collapsed and bounced out of the pack.

He used the opportunity to get a 40-yard score but it was his last strike that killed the Yote’s momentum. After forcing a fumble and taking advantage of a short field to get an Andy Peters touchdown pass to Torey Watkins, their deficit was trimmed to 21-13.

With three takeaways against the Yotes (2-2), SOU’s defense was also up to the challenge against a team picked to win the Frontier this season that had won eight straight over the Raiders until the 2023 regular-season finale and who advanced to last year’s NAIA semifinals.

Late in the fourth quarter, Brian Batres made a 38-yard field goal to extend the lead to 18 points, and senior quarterback Blake Asciutto- who went on to finish 20-of-32 for 313 yards delivered the final blows with touchdown passes of 28 yards to Jackson Clemmer and 44 yards to Brandon Barthel.

By the end, the Raiders had a 571-348 advantage in total yards over the Yotes.

Star Players Raiders vs Idaho

Yates logged scoring plays of 10, 40, and 68 yards in the first half, breaking loose for a 59-yard TD in the second, and managed to accumulate 31 rushes for 293 yards and four touchdowns- the third-highest yardage total on the ground in SOU history.

This was the third triple-digit game of the Coquille sophomore’s career and his second in a row. He became the fourth Raider ever to tally four rushing TDs and was just shy of joining Dusty McGrorty and Griff Yates as the only players in SOU history to make over 300 rushing yards in a game.

In the third 100-plus yardgame of his career, Sawyer Cleveland matched a personal best with 137 reception yards on nine catches while Jaxon Jedrykowski led the defense with his personal best of eight tackles. With the rest of SOU’s defensive backfield, the Raiders dominated the game.

The Raiders are hosting No. 4-ranked Montana Western next Saturday in their Frontier opener then visiting No. 12 Montana Tech next month. Their final game- the Frontier counter, is on November 16 in Caldwell. Check out the full Raiders schedule here.