Ashland, Ore. — No. 3 Southern Oregon ran away from No. 23 Montana Tech in the second half, winning 44-12 Saturday afternoon.
The Raiders dominated Montana Tech on the ground, running for 276 yards and three touchdowns. Quaderius Clemmons led the way with 121 yards on ten carries, including 60-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.
Montana Tech’s defense slowed Southern Oregon down in the first half to keep the game within reach, trailing just 16-3 at the break. Tech scored 10 unanswered points to open the third quarter, capped by Tanner Kump’s 20-yard strike to Trevor Hoffman to pull the Orediggers within 16-12.
But that would be as close as Tech would get. Rey Vega scored from 1 yard out to give the Raiders a 23-12 lead with under a minute to play in the third quarter. Tech fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting up a wide receiver reverse pass from Isaac Hurd to Jason Shelley resulting in a 20-yard touchdown. That pushed the Raiders’ lead to 30-12.
Clemmons’ 60-yard score put the exclamation point on Southern Oregon’s victory, improving the Raiders to 3-0 (3-0 Frontier). Montana Tech drops their first game of the season, falling to 2-1 (2-1). Kump has 232 yards passing and one touchdown for Tech, while Dion Williams hauled in 10 receptions for 139 yards.
Southern Oregon travels to Carroll next Saturday, while Montana Tech hosts Montana State-Northern.
