Hauck a big Meyer fan

MISSOULA – It was another amazing Saturday for Eastern Washington senior quarterback Erik Meyer, but Montana coach Bobby Hauck wasn’t amazed after the 12th-ranked Eagles dumped his second-ranked Grizzlies 34-20.

“He did what he does. He’s a really good player,” Hauck said. “He’s a terrific kid. … I like him off the field; I don’t like playing against him a whole bunch. He played a great game today. That’s expected.”

It seems as if Montana’s expectations for Meyer are as high as his own considering Meyer completed 28 of 40 passes for 295 yards and five touchdowns and scrambled for 42 more yards as the Eagles converted 9 of 14 third downs.

“He does everything,” Hauck said. “We didn’t have an answer for him. … We couldn’t get him off the field on third down.”

It was Meyer’s third-highest yardage game, the third time he threw for five TDs and sweet vindication for sub-par performances in his two previous starts against the Grizzlies.

“The last two years Montana has definitely had the best of me,” he said. “To come here to Grizzly Stadium and have a game like that, come out with a victory, it’s special.”

“I’m happy for him,” Eastern coach Paul Wulff said. “I’m happy he had an opportunity to come back and show he was a good player.”

Old hat

The Eagles set a record for wins by a visitor at Washington Grizzly Stadium. Montana has lost only 17 times since the stadium opened in 1986, and four have been to EWU.

Eastern’s last win here was in 1997, the year the Eagles made it to the I-AA semifinals.

Helping hand

As impressive as Meyer was, he had plenty of help.

Wide receivers Eric Kimble, who set the school record for total offense to go with Meyer’s mark for career completions, and Craig McIntyre both had more than 100 yards receiving, and Ryan Cole ran for 99 yards.

And they did it with more injuries felling offensive linemen.

Starting center Kraig Sigler went out in the second quarter with a shoulder injury, but that is one of the few places the Eagles have a veteran backup. Senior Randy Meade, who started as a sophomore but was slowed by a knee injury last year, stepped in and did well.

“It’s a crappy thing that Kraig had to go down but somebody has to go in. … I’ve played here before,” he said. “It was everybody giving their all on every snap.”

The experience helped as the Eagles had only a couple penalties that could possibly be blamed on the noise produced by 23,732 fans.

“We practiced going on crack count all week, where the center just snaps the ball and everybody watches the ball,” Meade said. “That way it kind of takes out the crowd. (Meyer mostly) was just going on quick one, and they were just watching my snap. I was pretty much the only one that could hear it.”

Good flip

When Eastern wins the pregame coin flip it usually chooses to receive the kickoff to get its high-powered offense on the field. This time the Eagles chose to wait until the third quarter because often it’s a little quieter as many fans return late from halftime festivities.

It worked – sort of.

It was noticeably quieter as the Eagles marched from their 14 to the UM 6 before Tyler Joyce picked off a Meyer pass. After the Griz went 85 yards for Dan Carpenter’s 30-yard field goal the deafening roar was back when the EWU offense went back on the field.

“We definitely had the momentum,” Meyer said. “We wanted to come out and score on the first possession. I made a mistake, the guy made a good play, it definitely took the momentum there. It was important for us to keep our composure.”

Turning point

What happened after young Grizzlies quarterback Cole Bergquist hit Ryan Bagley for a 22-yard touchdown in the second minute of the fourth quarter to make it 20-10 decided the game.

Eastern’s Charles Searcy fumbled the kickoff, and the Griz recovered on the Eagle 25. But on the next play, Bergquist threw a backward pass over Quinton Jackson’s head, and Nick Denbeigh recovered for Eastern.

“We had our energy going our way. We thought we’d try a big play,” Bergquist said. “I just let it sail over his head and we caught a bad break, it stayed in bounds.”

Quick kicks

McIntyre had four career TDs before Saturday, none this year and never more than one in a game. He had a career-high 101-yard game two weeks ago but didn’t catch a pass last week. … It turns out the knee Dale Morris injured at Northern Arizona was worse that first thought. The sophomore running back, who had an impressive 25-yard touchdown run last week, did not make the trip and could be out for up to six weeks with a sprained ligament. … True freshman Adam Macumber, who came off redshirt last week to provide a special teams spark, was considered Cole’s backup but never played because of the way the veteran Cole protects the ball. … Offensive tackle Chris Perkins returned after injuring a foot in the season opener and played the last three quarters. … The Eagles lost defensive tackle Garrett Quinn in the second quarter with a leg injury.