Western Oregon Blasts Raiders, 38-0, Now 4-0

The Wolves will get the week off, before returning to action on Oct. 7th at home against Humboldt State.

Salem-News.com

ASHLAND - There the team in Oregon nobody is talking about, but after blasting Southern Oregon Saturday, people should be.

Western Oregon running back Eliot Vinzant rambled for 199 yards rushing, but it was the Wolves defense that had as much to do with securing the gold trophy as Western Oregon shutout the Southern Oregon Raiders 38-0 Saturday night at Raider Stadium.

Vinzant’s rushing totals came on 23 carries and is a career best for him. He also threw a touchdown pass to quarterback Mark Thorson, and rushed for over 100 yards for the 11th consecutive game.

But WOU’s defense, which has given up just two touchdowns all season, allowed only 20 rushing yards all night and held the Raiders to a paltry 127 yards of total offense. Matt Jirges had three quarterback sacks and WOU had three interceptions in the contest to improve to 4-0 on the season. Southern Oregon dropped to 1-2 on the year.

With the win, Western Oregon takes temporary claim to the “Battle for the Gold” trophy, awarded to the winner of this long-time series.

The two teams will meet again in Monmouth on Oct. 21st.

Vinzant highlighted a WOU offense that tallied 421 yards of total offense, while tight end Kevin Boss caught six passes for 92 yards and two scores. But the Wolves scoring unit wasn’t nearly as sharp as it was in its first three games of the season. WOU did not turn the ball over, but didn’t convert on a handful of opportunities in Raider territory that could have put the game further out of hand. WOU missed three field goals and had four dropped passes in the first half.

WOU received its first big break on the first play of the game, when Southern fumbled the opening kick-off. Two plays later, Vinzant dashed off the right side on a 35-yard touchdown run, giving WOU a 7-0 lead just 40 seconds into the game.

Tyler Knudsen set up WOU’s next two scoring opportunities with brilliant punt returns, bringing one back for 17 yards and another for 30. Juan Rodriguez hit a 42-yard field goal to give the Wolves a 10-0 lead before the first quarter ended and early in the second quarter, Vinzant hit Thorson on a wide open pass-back of 12 yards to put the count at 17-0.

The Wolves added one more score before halftime, when Thorson connected with Boss for 22 yards.

Vinzant accounted for the only scoring in the third quarter with a 12-yard run, and then Thorson hit Boss for three yards with 12:56 left to tally the final six points, making it 38-0.

Thorson finished 16 of 33 for 156 yards and two scores, with no interceptions for the fourth consecutive game.

WOU had three interceptions on the night - by Jay Darden (third of the season), Nick Smith and J.J. La’a.

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