Wolves Explode For 53-7 Win Over Southern Oregon

McKay graduate Ben Kuenzi came off the bench for the Wolves and rushed for a career-best 93 yards on 11 carries, all in the second half.

Ben Kuenzi Photo courtesy: WOU

MONMOUTH - Western Oregon broke open a 7-0 game with 26 second-quarter points and went on to an easy 53-7 win over Southern Oregon in front of 3,500 Homecoming fans at McArthur Field.

The Wolves improved to 5-2 on the season, while the Raiders dropped to 2-5. It was the second victory of the year for WOU over rival SOU, as the Wolves also won a 38-0 Little Civil War contest between the two on Sept. 23rd in Ashland.

Junior quarterback Mark Thorson threw four touchdown passes and the WOU defense held the Raiders to just 36 yards rushing on the day. The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Wolves, who had dropped back-to-back close contests to Humboldt State and Central Washington the past two weeks.

“We had a very good, physical week of practice,” said WOU head coach Arne Ferguson. “We applied good pressure today, and made life difficult for their quarterback. With the exception of one play, we played an excellent defensive football game today.”

That one play, a 62-yard scoring toss from Casey Mitchell to Gabe Hatchett, gave the Raiders their only score, and it came with just four seconds to go before the end of the first half. That capped a wild second quarter, where the two squads combined for 33 total points.

The Wolves led only 7-0 after the first period, thanks to a 51-yard scoring strike from Thorson to Sean Fullerton. But the point barrage began pretty quickly after the teams switched ends, when Thorson led the Wolves on an eight play, 63-yard drive for a score. The junior quarterback found Tyler Knudsen on a 37-yard pass, setting up another Thorson-Knudsen connection for three yards for the touchdown.

The roof caved in shortly after that for the Raiders. Bruce Voges nailed a 43-yard field goal with 5:27 to go before the end of the half, and then the Wolves got the ball right back after a Nick Smith interception and 32-yard return brought the ball to the Raider 11-yard line. Thorson found Knudsen again on the very next play for six points, and now the Wolves led 24-0.

After three successful rushing plays for losses by the Raiders, Tyler Wilson snuck in and blocked a SOU punt at the goal line. The ball rolled out of the back of the end zone for a safety, making the count 26-0. The Wolves got the ball back, and promptly went 56 yards in five plays, with Eliot Vinzant rushing it in from six yards out. After Hatchett’s catch and run for SOU, the score was 33-7 at the break.

The pace slowed in the second half, although WOU put up 13 more points on the board in the third quarter. Voges kicked two more field goals (36 and 44 yards), and Fullerton caught another TD pass from Thorson, this one for 30 yards. The Wolves added one more score with 10 minutes to go in the game, on a two-yard run by Wilson.

Thorson finished 14 of 24 for 253 yards with no interceptions. Knudsen had seven catches for 92 yards, Fullerton three for 96 yards and Isaiah Smith had three grabs for 76 yards.

Vinzant saw his streak of 13 consecutive games rushing for over 100 yards come to an end, as he was held to just 46 on 22 carries.

The Wolves had 476 yards in total offense, and held the Raiders to just 180. WOU also dominated the time of possession, 36:30 to 23:30. WOU defenders had three interceptions on the afternoon.

Western Oregon will travel to Western Washington next Saturday for a date with the Vikings at Civic Stadium.

Game time is 1:00 PM.

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