Photo by Carsen Maciag/The Siskiyou
The 2008 Raider football team assembles at the Red and Black Spring Scrimmage May 3. The Raiders will begin preseason practice Aug. 8.

With the spring scrimmage over, the SOU football team is gearing up for fall.

Head coach Steve Helminiak will return for his third season, and this year he will bring with him new defensive coordinator John Ely.

The 8th annual Red & Black Spring Scrimmage football game took place May 3 at Raider Stadium. The game was an hour-and-a-half controlled game, with special teams. The Red Team was made up of the first string offense and second string defense, while the Black Team was composed of the first string defense and the second string offense.

The spring game was the 16th and final practice session of this season.

Next season the Raiders will carry a 92-man roster, seven of whom are returning offensive starters. Among the stars are senior quarterback Bryan Lee-Lauduski, senior running back Marlon Rosales and senior wide receiver Darryl Price.

The returning defensive standouts include senior defensive end Anthony Scolamierei and senior linebackers Demario Watson and Ben Baker.

"Our defense kept us in a lot of ball games last year, they forced a lot of turnovers," Lee-Lauduski said. "And next season we will be very deep on the defensive side of the ball."

SOU will also return two seniors who specialize in special teams in punter Steve Palmer and kicker Corey O’Neill. These veterans will be challenged by newcomers to the Raider roster next season.

The 2007 season showed several top newcomers. Among them are freshmen middle linebackers Joey Searson and Popo Kilioni and transfer students Brandon Stout and Harvey Taylor.

Graduation dealt a big blow to the roster, forcing SOU to replace linebackers Brandon Beatty and James Williams and wide receivers Kevin Holtzman and Tim Greenridge. Several offensive linemen were lost as well, which leaves room for growth and improvement in the upcoming season’s Raider running game.

"We struggled with the running game last year, but we made adjustments, and they worked," Lee-Lauduski said. "Obviously we don’t want any part of our game to be lacking, so if we have to, we will make adjustments again this year."

The Raiders achieved their first winning season in five years in 2007, going 5-4, with a 42-9 win on their final game over Dixie State.

"Going off of last year’s winning record, we definitely want to build on that," Lee-Lauduski said. "We are of course trying to make playoffs."

SOU will begin practicing Aug. 8 in preparation for the 2008 season. Their first contest will be Aug. 28 against Montana Tech in Butte, Mont. The team will then head back to Ashland and host rivals Humboldt State University on Sept. 6.

The 2008 season schedule also has SOU playing home games against Western Oregon and Azusa Pacific. The Raiders will finish off the season Nov. 15 when they travel to La Grande to take on the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers.