Well worth the wait
Mother Nature might have upstaged Matt Nichols a bit on Friday night, but Eastern Washington’s sophomore quarterback didn’t seem to mind.
And neither did his teammates.
Nichols, after waiting out a rain, wind, hail and lightning storm that delayed the start of EWU’s season-opening football game by almost an hour, put on an electrifying show of his own by throwing for six touchdowns in a 52-13 rout of the University of Montana-Western.
Behind Nichols’ precision passing, the Eagles treated a hearty Woodward Field crowd of 5,006 to the kind of dominant performance that most of those who rode out the storm had come to see.
Nichols, who was mercifully pulled from the game midway through the second quarter, completed 20 of 26 passes for 229 yards and six touchdowns, tying the single-game school record set by Rob James against Weber State in 1986.
He completed passes to five different receivers and hooked up with both Aaron Boyce and Tony Davis for two scoring tosses each. Boyce and Davis, who are also only sophomores, combined for 12 receptions and 160 yards to go along with their four TD catches.
When asked about his record-tying six touchdown passes, Nichols said, “I really don’t care too much about that.
“For me, it was more about executing the offense and making the right decisions,” Nichols added. “It was all made real easy for me by our sophomore receivers, who are really phenomenal, in my mind.”
Montana-Western, an NAIA school based in Dillon, Mont., was never able to solve Eastern’s no-huddle offense, which amassed 567 yards, including 307 on the ground. Even following the weather delay, the Eagles executed like it was midseason.
“There were some things we didn’t do well,” EWU coach Paul Wulff admitted, “but that’s pretty typical for a first game.
“Our kids played hard and the focus was there throughout. I thought they did a nice job of keeping their focus after the delay and all they had to go through.”
Along with the considerable contributions from Nichols and his corps of young receivers, the Eagles got 148 yards rushing from junior running back Dale Morris, who averaged just more than 9 yards per carry.
It wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that junior Fritz Brayton was called out to make his first career punt, which turned to pure gold when the Bulldogs’ Kekoa Perbera muffed it and EWU’s Nicholas Ramos recovered on Western’s 31-yard line to set up another Eagles touchdown.
Fittingly, it was Ramos who hauled in the 31-yard scoring pass from backup quarterback Alex Smart, to put Eastern up 51-13.
The TD pass was the Eagles’ seventh of the night and tied the single-game team record set in 2002 during a 50-6 rout of Montana Tech.
Eastern’s defense, after struggling to contain the Bulldogs’ spread passing game early on, seemed to figure things out late in the first half and pitched a second-half shutout.
“We weren’t real clean in our man-to-man coverage and they hit us with some things early,” Wulff said in reference to Western’s two first-half touchdowns, which came courtesy of senior quarterback Keali’i Perbera’s 2-yard run and 12-yard scoring pass to Craigh Cornelius.
“But you’ve got to give their quarterback some credit. He’s a gutsy kid and made some throws where they needed to be made.”
Perbera finished the game 14 of 34 for 161 yards and was victimized on two different occasions by Eastern’s Kevin Hatch, who celebrated his first start as an Eagle with the first two interceptions of his career.
“First start, first two picks, it was awesome,” said Hatch, a sophomore and former prep standout at Freeman High School. “I had quite a few butterflies coming in, but when I got out there and saw the lights, I just got that feeling.”
Hatch said he thought the weather delay might have contributed to Eastern’s early defensive problems.
“It was kind of hard coming out and getting ready and then having that delay,” he said. “We came back out a little flat, but once we settled down and talked about things we started getting after it.
“This is really a big tempo-setter for us – just to come out, get a win under our belt and gain some confidence. Now we just have to carry it on for the rest of the year.”
The storm front that blew through forced university officials to temporarily evacuate Woodward Field and scrap plans for a postgame fireworks display. Reese Court, the Eagles’ home basketball arena, was opened so the fans who showed up early could find shelter and ride out the storm.
Once play began, Eastern flexed its offensive muscle by taking the opening kickoff and marching 73 yards in five plays for the game’s first touchdown, which came on a 34-yard pass from Nichols to Boyce. That same duo hooked up again on a 12-yard scoring play midway through the second period to put the Eagles up 28-7.
In between, Nichols threw scoring passes of 3 and 13 yards to Nathan Overbay and Shane Eller and finished the half completing 14 of 17 passes for 182 yards and four touchdowns.
Morris, pounding primarily over the right side of Eastern’s veteran offensive line, picked up 140 first-half yards on 14 carries as the Eagles rolled up a 356-160 advantage in total offense.
The Eagles have a bye this coming week and next play again Sept. 15 when they entertain the University of California Davis in a non-conference game that kicks off at 6:05 p.m. at Woodward Field.