Dave Trimmer

Yesterday's enemy is today's best friend. After 21st-ranked Eastern Washington knocked the stuffing out of 11th-ranked Montana State 35-14 on Saturday, the Eagles hope the Bobcats bounce back.

There were 1,219 yards in the books and 95 points put on the board when Eastern Washington and Montana State squared off last year in a crucial Big Sky Conference football game in Bozeman. Those aren't the kind of numbers a defense wants to remember, even if was on the winning side of the 51-44 game that was decided in overtime.

A potential nationally ranked signing class bolstered by a local standout put the Gonzaga women's basketball team in the spotlight on Wednesday, the first day players could sign a letter of intent. The Bulldogs landed six players on the first day of the early signing, including Heather Bowman of Lewis and Clark and Canadian Janelle Bekkering, who turned down Stanford. Bekkering is the sister of Eastern Washington player Henry Bekkering.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – In most games, the key is how you finish. That wasn't the case Saturday night when 11th-ranked Eastern Washington University dropped a critical 40-35 non-conference football game at No. 18 Cal Poly.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Eastern Washington's defense, which had been solid if unspectacular all season, was a no-show Saturday night. The 11th-ranked Eagles were shredded for 529 yards by 18th-ranked Cal Poly, which had 113 yards a week earlier, in a disheartening, 40-35 loss before 7,901 delirious homecoming fans at Mustang Stadium.

There was a quandary when the selection committee was considering Jack Spring for the Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame: athlete, coach or contributor? Some consider Spring the best high school pitcher in Spokane history from his days as a baseball player at Lewis and Clark before he embarked on an 18-year professional odyssey that included stints with seven major league teams in eight seasons. Then he returned to Spokane to teach and coach at West Valley, guiding the Eagles to Spokane's only state baseball championship in 1978 before becoming the school's athletic director until he retired after 23 years.

Eastern Washington went from royalty to road kill in the Big Sky football championship chase, except for one thing – the Eagles were at home. The sixth-ranked Eagles were in control of their own destiny after upsetting Montana last weekend. That is until Weber State made all the critical big plays down the stretch for an upset of its own 28-23, spoiling a beautiful Saturday afternoon as well as homecoming for 8,696 fans, the second-largest crowd in Woodward Field history.

Eastern Washington University football players can't seem to find the words to describe what teammate Raul Vijil does once he catches a short pass over the middle. The Eagles smile and shake their heads at the way the senior wide receiver dances around and then breaks into the open, leaving flailing defenders behind.

Obscured in the euphoria of a solid win over second-ranked Montana at the most intimidating venue in I-AA was the mediocre play of Eastern Washington's special teams. But mediocre is improvement.