HAVRE -- Southern Oregon built a 24-7 halftime lead over MSU-Northern on the Lights' senior day, but the Raiders had to hold off the lights for a 27-19 Frontier Conference victory in Havre on Saturday.
Southern Oregon struggled to move the ball on the ground against the Lights, but Hykeem Massey opened the scoring with a 19-yard touchdown run -- a total that represented nearly two-thirds of his 30 rushing yards on the day. A Wyatt Hutchinson 48-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Suell with 20 seconds left in the first quarter gave Southern Oregon a 14-0 lead.
The Raiders extended that lead to 21-0 with just under five minutes left in the second quarter when Hutchinson hit Suell from a yard out for the duo's second scoring connection of the afternoon. The Lights answered back just two plays later, as Jett Robertson took a carry 44 yards to paydirt. A 29-yard field goal by Champ Robertson gave the Raiders a 24-7 halftime lead.
The Raiders added another field goal on their opening possession of the second half, as Graycen Kennedy drilled one through the uprights from 27 yards out. Northern answered again, this time on a 70-yard touchdown pass from Brenden Medina to Jake Horner.
The Lights trimmed Southern Oregon's lead to 27-19 after a 1-yard touchdown run by Cameron Taylor with 9:27 to play, Northern would force a fumble on Southern Oregon's next possession and the Lights recovered with just over seven minutes to play. A 60-yard pass from Medina to Horner set the Lights up inside the Southern Oregon 20-yard line, but penalties and a fumble by Medina on fourth down stalled the drive.
Northern would have one last chance after forcing a three-and-out by the Raiders, but Medina failed to convert on the ground on fourth and two with 1:32 to play, giving the ball back to Southern Oregon to effectively end the game.
Southern Oregon improves to 4-6 overall and 4-5 in Frontier Conference play. MSU-Northern falls to 1-9 (0-9). Northern will visit No. 6 College of Idaho on Nov. 16 to wrap up the regular season.
