ASHLAND, Ore. – The Carroll football team suffered an excruciating loss on Saturday afternoon at Southern Oregon. The final score was 34-33 after the Raiders stormed back to take down the Saints.
 
The scoring in this one got started early with SOU striking first. The Saints went three-and-out on their opening drive and Southern returned the punt down to the four yard line. Three plays later, Avery McCuaig punched in a touchdown to put the Raiders up 7-0.
 
The Saints responded with 1:54 left in the first quarter. Carroll's offense marched 97 yards on 14 plays, capped off by a Jack Prka touchdown pass to Tony Collins from two yards out to tie the game at seven a piece.
 
Carroll took their first lead with 12:55 remaining in the second quarter on a 30-yard field goal from Stephen Powell. Then, with 25 seconds left in the first half, Jack Prka connected with Camron Rothie for a 13-yard touchdown to put the Saints up 17-7 heading into the break.
 
Early on in the second half, both team's defenses exchanged stops on the first few possessions. Then the Saints got the ball deep in Raider territory on a Rex Irby interception. They would go on to settle for a field goal from Stephen Powell to take a 20-7 lead with 4:42 left in the third quarter.
 
The Saints added to their lead once more in the fourth quarter, as Duncan Kraft shimmied in to the corner of the endzone on a three-yard touchdown run. With 13:34 left in the game, Carroll held a 27-7 lead.
 
Southern Oregon and Carroll exchanged back-to-back long touchdowns after that. Matt Struck found Ben Graziani for a 65-yard strike down the sideline to make it a two-score game once more. Duncan Kraft followed that up with a 66-yard touchdown run to extend Carroll's lead back to 33-14 with 11minutes left to play.
 
From that point on, the Raiders took the momentum and ran with it. They scored three unanswered touchdowns in the final eight minutes, including two by Bryce Goggin, and Southern Oregon stormed back to take a 34-33 lead with 37 seconds on the clock.
 
Bryce Goggin finished the game with 10 catches for 131 yards and two receiving touchdowns for the Raiders. Matt Struck completed 28 of his 49 pass attempts for 318 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions.
 
Jack Prka completed 23 of 38 attempts for 262 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. Duncan Kraft added 145 rushing yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns.
 
The Saints, now 1-3 on the year, will hit the road again next Saturday for a big game with College of Idaho.