IT'S GAME DAY! Southern Oregon (3-3) @ Western Oregon (4-2)

You can hear the game live in Salem on KPJC 1220 AM.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

MONMOUTH, Ore. - For the 71st time in football history, Western Oregon and Southern Oregon will meet in a regional rivalry game Saturday at McArthur Field. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.

Bounce Back Game

Both squads will be looking to bounce back after dropping games last Saturday to ranked teams. The Wolves fell to No. 17 nationally ranked (NCAA Division II) Central Washington (49-14), while the Raiders fell at home to No. 19 (Division III) Linfield (30-22).

Homecoming

Former alums, current students and local fans will all mingle together at Homecoming 2007.

The Wolves have drawn well for their first three games this season at McArthur Field, and the WOU-SOU contest should pack them in as well.

2,700 came to see WOU play Willamette, 3,800 packed in versus Linfield, and 3,100 saw the contest against Central Washington on Family Weekend. McArthur Field's official capacity lists at 2,500.

Watch And Listen

If you can't make it to McArthur Field this Saturday, you have listening and viewing options.

All Western Oregon football games are broadcast live on KPJC 1220-AM in Salem, and are available on the internet at www.wouwolves.com.

WOU television replays of the game will run beginning on the following Tuesday and through the week on both Comcast and WIMPEG cable in the Monmouth-Independence area, and on CCTV in Salem starting at midnight on Saturday.

Series History

Western Oregon rolled through the Raiders twice last season, 38-0 in Ashland and 53-7 in Monmouth. The Wolves have now won the last six games in the series, and lead all-time 43-26-1.

Raider Review

Second-year Southern Oregon head coach Steve Helminiak has his program pointed in the right direction. The former assistant coach at Rockford (Ill.) stepped in last season, taking over a 1-9 program (2005).

The Raiders went 2-7 last year, and are already 3-3 in 2007. SOU has shown a knack for getting involved in nail-biters, losing to Montana Tech by just two points (32-30), while defeating Eastern Oregon in overtime (48-45) and edging out Azusa Pacific (14-13).

The Raiders are averaging 315 yards a game in total offense, led by the 1,374 passing yards of quarterback Brian Lee-Lauduski, a sophomore transfer from UC Davis.

Lee-Lauduski has connected on 53 percent of his passes for 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Senior wideouts Kevin Holtzman (30 catches, 460 yards) and Tim Greenidge (29-308) are his favorite targets, while Marlon Rosales (290 yards) and Derrel Hutsona (209) lead the running game. Hutsona, a transfer from Washington State, was the second leading rusher (379 yards) and kick-off return (19.3) specialist for the Cougars last fall.

Safety Austin Stack leads the defense with 46 tackles, three quarterback sacks and three forced fumbles. Junior punter Steve Palmer is a weapon, averaging 40.8 yards per punt.

Arne On The Raiders

"Southern Oregon is greatly improved, and they continue to get better and better each week," said WOU head coach Arne Ferguson. "They will play extremely hard against us. Their defense is very aggressive, and they have some big weapons on offense. This is certainly a team that is much better than it was a year ago."

Nightmare at McArthur

On a day where WOU would have to play their best game to win, their dreams of an upset over Central Washington came crashing down in a hail of mistakes during a 49-14 loss to the Wildcats last Saturday.

The Wolves turned the ball over five times, had 10 penalties and converted only one of four scoring opportunities in the red zone.

The Wolves did compile 370 yards of total offense, but the miscues did them in. Sophomore running back Ben Kuenzi rushed for 107 yards on 22 carries to highlight the offense, while JT Gilmore (14 tackles) and Zach Christopherson (10 tackles) were the defensive stars of the game.

Arne's Assessment

"I feel like we are a better team than we were last year, but it certainly didn't show against Central Washington. We needed to do four things to win: stop the run, control their passing game, take care of the football on offense and keep the penalties numbers down. We didn't do any of the four. We would have to play a very good game to beat them, but we didn’t come close to that and that was very disappointing."

Welcome Back

The Southern Oregon coaching staff features two members that will feel right at home at McArthur Field.

Defensive coordinator Stacy Collins was an all-star linebacker for the Wolves from 1994-97, and was a member of WOU's 1997 CFA championship squad. He was also an assistant at WOU for four seasons, before working at South Dakota Tech, Western Washington and Idaho State.

Cam Olson leads the SOU running backs, one year after filling the same duties at WOU.

Packing

After the SOU game, WOU will hit the road for games at Western Washington (Oct. 27) and Dixie State (Nov. 3), before returning home for their final regular season game against Humboldt State (Nov. 10).

Western has traveled to Kingsville, Texas (22-14 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville), to San Luis Obispo, Calif. (24-17 loss to Cal Poly) and to Arcata, Calif. (27-3 win over Humboldt State).

All of WOU's 2007 roadies are out of state: two to California, one to Texas, one to Utah and one to Washington.

National Notes

WOU's punt return defense ranks third in the nation (NCAA Division II), allowing only 0.94 yards per punt. JT Gilmore averages 12.5 tackles per game, sixth best in the country.

Ben Kuenzi ranks 21st with 111.8 yards rushing per contest. WOU defense is 20th against the run (100 yards a game).

Defensive Dots

The Wolves have forced 18 fumbles, recovering nine. JT Gilmore's 18 tackles against Texas A&M-Kingsville was the most by a WOU player since Dave Morrill had 21 against Carson-Newman in 2000. Gilmore leads the team with 75 tackles on the year.

16 different WOU players have tackles for losses, led by Matt Cox's eight and Casey O'Donnell's 7.5. Zach Christopherson leads the club with two interceptions.

Senior linebacker Matt Buche is second on the squad with 40 tackles. He has started in every game since his freshman year.

Defensive tackle Anthony Marin is a two-time qualifier for the NCAA Division II national championships in the hammer.

Defensive end Victor Felipe was listed as a starting defensive end for the University of Oregon on their spring depth chart. WOU's secondary has 19 pass break-ups by nine different players.

Ode To The Offense

Sophomore running back Ben Kuenzi is on pace to top the 1,000 yard rushing mark with four games left to play. He has 671 total, averaging 111.8 yards per game. Only seven players in WOU history have cracked that barrier, including recent standout Eliot Vinzant who had 1,073 yards in 2005 and 1,046 in 2006.

Senior quarterback Mark Thorson has thrown for 1,093 yards in five games, connecting on 55 percent of his passes. He missed the Humboldt State game (Oct. 6) with a shoulder injury.

Junior Isaiah Smith leads the receiving crew with 23 catches for 361 yards and three scores. Senior Brad Ching adds 21 catches for 272 yards, with Shaun Kauleinamoku (18-202) and Sean Fullerton (17-174) right behind them.

Specialists

Senior Bruce Voges has four field goals on the season and has 25 in his career. He is also averaging 58.7 yards per kick-off. Sophomore Juan Rodriguez has stepped in to be the team's punter, averaging 36.3 per punt.
Source: WOU Athletics

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