Dodge, Raiders use aerial assault on Blue Hawks

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ASHLAND, Ore. — The Southern Oregon football team is known for the highly effective passing attack.

The Raiders are the No. 1-ranked NAIA passing offense in the country and the train didn’t slow down with Frontier Conference opponent Dickinson State coming to town.

Southern Oregon scored 21 points in the first five minutes of the game en route to a 45-7 win over the Blue Hawks on Saturday.

“They went 1, 3, 5 plays and they had 21 points,” DSU head coach Hank Biesiot said. “It’s tough to overcome.”

The Raiders’ three touchdown passes in the first quarter were from sophomore quarterback Austin Dodge and went 61, 91 and 50 yards.

“They came out swinging and hit those home runs right away,” Biesiot said.

Dodge went 16 of 25 for 304 yards and four TDs. He connected with Patrick Donahue four times for 125 yards including the 61- and 50-yard TD strikes.

Not only was the passing attack in full effect, but the running game compiled 312 yards. Manny Barragan led the team with 180 yards and one TD, while Chris Kammel added 43 yards and one TD.

The Blue Hawks were able to create three turnovers, two fumbles and one interception. However, DSU wasn’t able to score points off the turnovers.

The Blue Hawks didn’t turn the ball over.

At halftime DSU trailed 38-0, but managed to put together an 11-play, 85-yard drive to start the third quarter. Blue Hawks’ senior quarter Dave Velasquez capped the drive with an 11-yard TD run.

“I thought the kids show some heart and really scrapped during the second half,” said Biesiot, who remains tied with Frosty Westering with 256 wins on the NAIA’s coaching wins chart.

St. Francis University (Ind.) head coach Kevin Donley is now in sole possession of the NAIA wins record with 257 after defeating Concordia University (Mich.) 76-14 on Saturday.

Biesiot felt DSU let a couple early opportunities slip away in the first quarter with drives starting at midfield or in Southern Oregon territory.

“We had some great field position,” he said. “We got the twice inside their 50 and we don’t get any points. That hurt us as much as some of the big plays did.”

Velasquez went 8 of 21 for 54 yards and was sacked four times. Jimmy Smith came away with six catches for 21 yards, while Presley Straub added three catches for 22 yards. Myren Moore led the charge on the ground with 16 carries for 31 yards, while Straub added eight carries for 26 yards.

DSU’s only option with defending NAIA national champion runner-up Carroll College coming to the Badlands Activities Center next Saturday is working during practice.

DSU 0 0 7 0 — 7

SO 21 17 7 0 — 45

First quarter

SO–Patrick Donahue 61 pass from Austin Dodge (pass failed), 14:43.

SO–Manny Barragan 91 run (Mike Olson run), 12:11.

SO–Donahue 50 pass from Dodge (Colin Amsler kick), 10:12.

Second quarter

SO–Olson 15 pass from Dodge (Amsler kick), 13:35.

SO– Shane Kirkpatrick 21 pass from Dodge (Amsler kick), 8:51.

SO–Amsler 26 FG, 4:16.

Third quarter

DSU–Dave Velasquez 11 run (Chad Bryant kick), 10:10.

SO–Chris Kammel 1 run (Amsler kick), 3:27.

Fourth quarter

No scoring

TEAM STATISTICS DSU SO

First downs 15 31

Rushes-yards 47-151 41-312

Passing yards 61 334

Comp.-Att.-Int. 11-24-0 20-33-1

Total yards 212 646

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2

Penalties-yards 7-75 10-104

Punts-Avg. 11-32 2-31

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: DSU, James Smith 1-10, Dave Velasquez 10-6, Blake Pirkl 1-0, Matt Harkless 6-8, Presley Straub 8-26, Myren Moore 16-31, Kyle Stanton 3-17. SO, Manny Barragan 12-180, Austin Dodge 2-9, Chris Kammel 8-43, Mike Olson 2-12, Joseph Wiggan 5-38, Zach Marshall 10-32.

PASSING: DSU, Dave Velasquez 8-21-0 54, Matt Harkless 3-3-0 7. SO, Austin Dodge 16-25-1 304, Chris Kammel 4-8-0 30.

RECEIVING: DSU, James Smith 6-21, Presley Straub 3-22, Kyle Stanton 1-5, Cody Clausen 1-13. SO, Manny Barragan 1-10, Patrick Donahue 4-125, Cole McKenzie 6-97, Justin Otaguro 3-40, Shane Kirkpatrick 1-21, Mike Olson 3-36, Teran Togia 1-(-1), Joseph Wiggan 1-6.

DEFENSIVE STATISTICS

TACKLES: DSU, Brady Harkless 13, Mike Fisher 7, Bo Brooks 7. SO, Kalii Robinson 13, Daniel Breaux 8, Juwuan Brown 7, Heston Altenbach 7.

SACKS: SO, Juwuan Brown 3, Kalii Robinson 1, Marquice O’Leary 1.

INTERCEPTIONS: DSU, Brady Harkless 1.

Tags: college football, dickinson state athletics, blue hawks, frontier conference, sports