Eagles learn patience against Aggies

DAVIS, Calif. – After seemingly gliding down the highway to Frisco, the Eastern Washington offense found itself in a traffic jam Saturday night.

Almost 19 minutes into the game, the Eagles had exactly one possession and were trailing on the road against a UC Davis team that milked the clock, refused to make a mistake and generally tested their patience.

But there’s no road rage on this team, even with its best running back on the sideline. Instead, it was Davis that lost its patience and ditched its game plan on the roadside while the Eagles stuck with theirs in a 37-14 Big Sky Conference win over the Aggies.

“It definitely was a grind in the first half,” coach Beau Baldwin said after a game in which the Eagles failed to hit 500 yards of total offense for the first time this season and quarterback Vernon Adams threw for just 303 yards and two scores – good numbers by anyone’s standard save Adams’.

Adams was patience personified against an Aggies defense that played a soft coverage designed to prevent the long completion and test the Eagles’ patience.

“All it takes is for them to get a couple of big plays on defense, and then grind out the clock,” Baldwin said. “The next thing you know you’re in a close game in the fourth quarter.”

So Adams hit the short stuff: 24 out of 29 times, with no interceptions. The ground game did its thing even without leading rusher Quincy Forte sidelined by a shoulder injury, as California natives Mario Brown and Jabari Wilson pounded the ball inside.

“It gets frustrating, but when you face adversity you just have to push inch-by-inch and yard-by-yard,” said Brown, who finished with 87 yards on 12 carries. “We just have to keep pushing forward.”

And as they did so often last season, the Eagles made a decisive run in the third quarter – on both sides of the ball.

It didn’t hurt that even in a tight game, UC Davis went away from its strength by going to the air early in the second half. By game’s end, the Aggies had just 266 yards of total offense, a big confidence-booster for the Eastern defense.

“We were able to make a few more plays in the third quarter and our players kept churning,” Baldwin said.

There’s more churning ahead. Next up is a confident, high-flying Idaho State team that rang up 639 yards of offense in a 44-24 win Saturday over Sacramento State. At least the Eagles will be at home, their first game at Roos Field since Montana Western on Aug. 30.

After that, they’re back on the road, facing another ball-control outfit at Southern Utah, scene of their last conference loss back in October 2012. The Eagles’ patience will be tested, for sure, but now they’ve had some practice.