Mike Sando

Enthusiastic first-year EWU men's basketball coach Steve Aggers whistles while he works. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Dave Janoski, right, dodges WSU's Adesola Moronkola in the first half and later scored a pivotal touchdown. Photo by Bill Chan/Associated Press

Montana's Dave Dickenson scrambles against EWU's outmanned defense. Photo by Associated Press

Montana can clinch the Big Sky Conference's berth to the NCAA Division I-AA football playoffs with a victory over Eastern Washington today at Woodward Stadium. Should the Grizzlies lose, they'll need to end the regular season with a win at Montana State. Either way, Montana is planning on playing in the postseason, preferably at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula. The university submitted bids on Friday to host games in all three playoff rounds, forking over $150,000 in refundable deposits.

College basketball Eastern Washington's first basketball exhibition of the season, an 82-71 loss Thursday night to a team from Australia, reinforced what new EWU coach Steve Aggers already knew. "We just have a lot of work to do," said Aggers, who took over in July, after the firing of John Wade. Where to start?

Center Melvin Lewis has been suspended from the Eastern Washington basketball team while the university and NCAA separately investigate the validity of credits Lewis earned in junior college. Lewis, who transferred from College of the Sequoias in California before last season, continues to practice with the team. He will not play in any games until EWU or the NCAA is assured of his eligibility.

Eastern Washington running back Joe Sewell (30) is determined to excel. Photo by Associated Press

The winner of today's Big Sky Conference football game between Eastern Washington and Montana State will likely be the team with the least destructive backup quarterback. If EWU's Harry Leons tops out at, say, three interceptions and MSU clipboard-holder Todd Buchanan throws five, for instance, the Eagles would figure to have a decent shot at their first Big Sky win of the season. It's come to this because both teams lost their regular quarterbacks to season-ending injuries in home defeats last week. EWU starter Brian Sherick tore up a knee in a 30-16 setback against Northern Arizona, while MSU's Jeff Tuss broke a wrist in a 14-7 loss to Weber State.

Jeff Lewis of Northern Arizona will be the best quarterback available in next year's National Football League draft. That's what Mel Kiper, the widely quoted NFL talent scout, told a national radio audience on Saturday. Lewis did little to diminish his standing with the experts over the next few hours, completing 30 of 41 passes for 343 yards and a touchdown as NAU beat Eastern Washington 30-16 on a muddy Woodward Stadium field. The win moved NAU (3-1 Big Sky, 6-2 overall) into a first-place conference tie. EWU (0-4, 2-5) lost its fifth straight.

As if a four-game losing streak and a string of career-threatening, psyche-damaging injuries weren't enough, the Eastern Washington football team now must face a superior, suddenly healthy opponent that also figures to be downright ornery. It's hardly what the Eagles envisioned when they scheduled Northern Arizona for today's 1:05 homecoming game at Woodward Stadium. The maladies continue to accumulate for EWU, which slipped to 0-3 in the Big Sky Conference and 2-4 overall after last Saturday's 37-10 free fall at Idaho.

Blocked punts by Brandon Moore, right, and Phillip Glover have a big hand in Washington State's 40-14 victory over Oregon State. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Eastern Washington quarterback Harry Leons makes his first college start tonight. Whether he finishes the Eagles' Big Sky Conference football game against Idaho State depends largely on two people - EWU head coach Mike Kramer and offensive lineman Aaron Barfield. "I'll let him take all the snaps Saturday night, unless he struggles," said Kramer, who suspended starter Brian Sherick and backup Scott Bond for missing curfew after last weekend's loss at Weber State. "But I anticipate no drop-off at quarterback. We're lucky to have Harry."

Sherick

Eastern Washington's punishment, a 14-6 home loss to Portland State on Saturday, fit the crimes perpetrated by the Eagles' offense for most of the football game's previous 59-plus minutes. EWU wasted a solid defensive effort with one of its worst offensive displays, a display that included no gains longer than 18 yards and ended with a fumbled snap on second-and-goal from the Portland State 4-yard-line with 26 seconds remaining. Sophomore quarterback Brian Sherick suffered through his first bad outing in three starts, completing just 10 of his first 25 passes, and received little help from his offensive teammates until EWU defensive tackle Chris Scott provided a spark by making the defensive play of the game.

As part of a promotion to sell season tickets for the 1995 football season, Portland State coach Tim Walsh agreed to bungee-jump from the Portland Civic Stadium rooftop. Unfortunately for Walsh and the Vikings, the nosedive has been symbolic, and PSU enters today's non-conference game at Eastern Washington attempting to snap back from a 1-2 start. In their previous two games, the Vikings have committed an astounding 15 turnovers. Last Saturday's nine-giveaway nightmare, featuring four lost fumbles and three Kyle Allen interceptions, left Walsh at the end of his rope.

1. Tony Corbin dumps the ball as EWU's Avont Grant unloads on the Sacramento State quarterback. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review 2. Eastern Washington's David Lewis leaves Sacramento State's Peter Wilson behind. EWU won at home, 21-18. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

To say Sacramento State doesn't have a football program isn't entirely fair. The Hornet field a football team, thanks to self-inflicted student-fee increases mandated last spring by campus referendum. It's just that those student-fee increases did not allow for publication of a football program, making Sac State a program without a program. More damaging, however, was the absence of a recruiting budget and spring practices, which undoubtedly were factors in the Hornets' 62-7 loss at Northern Arizona last Saturday.

Eastern Washington tight end Jesse Hardt grew up on the farm, but plans a career in elementary education. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Months of conditioning, two weeks of practices, a couple of scrimmages and enough hours in the film room to make Siskel eject Ebert could not have prepared Eastern Washington for what it will face in tonight's season-opening football game. The schedule says EWU plays Southwest Texas State, a team that, like the Eagles, is attempting to rebound from a 4-7 season. What the schedule leaves out, and what concerns second-year EWU coach Mike Kramer, is the 90-degree heat and suffocating humidity anticipated for the 4:07 p.m. PDT kickoff in sweltering San Marcos, Texas. Those conditions were impossible to recreate during the two-a-day practices that concluded last week in Cheney. And there just isn't enough room to practice 40-yard out patterns in the sauna at the health club.

The grass at Woodward Stadium remains. That means Eastern Washington won't be playing many football games on paper this season. Head coach Mike Kramer is grateful. "On paper, we've got nothing," Kramer said Friday afternoon, after the Eagles' first practice of the 1995 season. "You're new on the defensive line, you're young in the secondary, your quarterback has thrown only one pass against competition, your tailbacks have never really run for a lot of yardage, your offensive line has never pushed anybody off the ball. So on paper, man, it doesn't look good."

McElwain

Spokane has scored a major decision against three major-league cities, securing the 1996 Final Olympic Trials for Freestyle Wrestling to be held next June 7-8 at the new Veternas Memorial Arena. "This is a culmination of a six-year strategic plan," said Toby Steward, president of the Spokane Organizing Committee, which helped bring the event here over bids from Houston, Pittsburgh and Oakland, Calif. The event determines which 10 wrestlers, plus 10 alternates, will represent the United States at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

The Woodward Stadium football field, mangled beyond recognition by the end of last season, featured green plant life that looked suspiciously similar to grass Saturday afternoon. The Eastern Washington defense blended in.

EWU's new head basketball coach, Steve Aggers, right, greets fans at press conference. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review