Vikings rock in season opener

PORTLAND - Portland State did excatly what it should do every season against Southern Oregon and rolled to a 52-0 win in its season opener Saturday at Jeld-Wen Field.

Senior Cory McCaffery ran for three touchdowns and senior Connor Kavanaugh threw for a score and ran for one to lead the Vikings into a two-week break with an exciting start to coach Nigel Burton's season.

The Vikings, just 2-9 last season, finished with 597 total yards, while holding the Raiders of the NAIA's Cascade Conference to just 107 total yards.

Kavanaugh threw for just 48 yards, but completed 4 of 5 passes and also ran for 78 yards on four carries before giving way to former starter Drew Hubel, who returned after more than a year off.

Hubel completed 13 of 22 passes for 181 yards and a 21-yard touchdown to Justin Monahan that capped a 16-play, 95-yard drive and made the score 38-0 at the half before the sund-baked crowd of 4,953.

The Vikings play host to Northen Arizona in two weeks to open their Big Sky Conferenc schedule.

Southern Oregon, which averaged just 1.6 yards per offensive play, meets Willamette in a non-conference game next week.