HELENA, Mont. – Senior quarterback Mac Roche threw for 266 yard and three touchdowns and the Carroll defense held the vaunted Southern Oregon offense to just one offensive touchdown as the No. 4 Saints outlasted No. 1 SOU and a lightning delay for the 26-20 home victory Saturday at Nelson Stadium.
 
The game was tied to start the fourth quarter 20-20 but Carroll forced a SOU stop and Ryan Gregory returned the ensuing punt 31 yards to the Carroll 45 yard-line to give the Saints great field position. Carroll then drove to the Southern Oregon 19-yard line before a holding call moved the Saints back.  
 
The game was then delayed 30 minutes for lighting and the Saints picked up the drive with a first and 20 on the SOU 29.  Four plays later Roche found freshman running back Conner Poulson out of the backfield for the 15-yard touchdown to give the Saints a 26-20 lead that would hold for the win.
 
SOU threatened but Kamerun Smith's fourth down pass to Adonis Griffin was broken up by Dominique Cole in the endzone with 24 seconds left to seal the win for Carroll.
 
Head coach Mike Van Diest exorcised demons of the 2014 season when SOU made comebacks in each of the three games between the two squads, including a 27-point fourth quarter performance in the NAIA quarterfinals.
 
"It was a long offseason, but it was great to watch how hard these guys played, and how hard Southern Oregon played," Van Diest said. We have such great respect for that program. We finally won one in the fourth quarter."
 
The Carroll defense held Southern Oregon to 358 yards, well short of the 559 yards per game they averaged in 2014. It was a big aspect in the win for a team that had 15 penalties and three turnovers, uncommon numbers for a Carroll squad.
 
"Penalties and turnovers hurt us. The first game, you know that's going to happen. you'd like it not to happen but it happens," Van Diest said. "We had a couple big turnovers in the first half and that was the key. I thought our defense played great today. I thought they played lights out. When you look what Wymore and Ryan Gregory did, the safeties came up with a big interception with Dowgin."
 
The only SOU offensive touchdown came early in the first quarter. A Mac Roche interception gave the Raiders the ball on the 43-yard line. On the second play of the drive Melvin Mason found open space on the outside for the 40-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead with 12:28 left in the first half.
 
The Saints wouldn't answer until early in the second half. Dylan Green capped a 74-yard drive with a six-yard touchdown with 14:18 to play in the half to knot the game at 7.
 
After an offsides penalty on the ensuing kickoff forced the Saints to re-kick, Matt Retzlaff found a seam on the return and scampered untouched 95-yards for the touchdown to give SOU a 14-7 lead.
 
Roche threw his second interception of the game on the next Saints possession but the Carroll defense held and forced a punt.
 
Carroll took over on their own 44 and drove 56-yards in 2:30, capped off with a Roche pass to a wide-open Eric Dawson for a 20-yard touchdown. Colter Hamel missed the PAT and the Saints still trailed 14-13.
 
The first Carroll lead was not far off however as Greg Tucker hit Teran Togia in the open field on the ensuing possession to cause a fumble and give the Saints the ball on the SOU 23-yard line.
 
On the next play Roche found Ryan Walsh for the 23-yard score to put Carroll on top 20-14.
 
Southern Oregon added a field goal at the end of the first half to cut the Carroll advantage to 20-17.
 
Roche's third interception of the game came 9:45 left in the third quarter. The Raiders capitalized to tie the game at 20-20 with a field goal with 8:30 left in the third quarter.
 
The field goal capped the scoring for Southern Oregon for just three second-half points, a stark contrast for a team that scored an average of 27 points in the second half of the three meetings of the two teams last year.
 
Dawson Osborn led the Saints with nine tackels, including a sack. Beaugh Meyer also had a sac for the Saints. James Dowgin and Matt Wymore had interceptions for the Saints and five Carroll defenders at pass breakups.
 
Van Diest has nothing but respect for the effort from Southern Oregon and their players even if he isn't looking forward to the return game slated for Oct. 17.
 
"They are a great team. Coach Howard and his staff are great. There's just a lot of respect.," Van Diest said. "When you play the best teams, it's like Montana and North Dakota State last week, you bring out the best in each other. This is a good football team. Now we have to go play them again. I wish could take my ball and go home but we have to go play them again in Ashland, but we are going to enjoy this tonight. We have to start getting ready for Tech tomorrow morning by 6 a.m."
 
The Saints travel to play Montana Tech next Saturday in Butte.