Garske Bails Out Defense, Eastern

Eastern Washington’s veteran defense figured it needed to step up its play against Sacramento State Saturday night, what with redshirt freshman Griffin Garske making his first start at quarterback and all.

But the Eagles were wrong.

And in the end it was the inexperienced Garske who stepped it up and rescued EWU’s struggling defense by throwing for 309 yards and four touchdowns in a 51-34 Big Sky Conference win at Hornets Stadium.

Garske, a 6-foot-4, 220-pounder from Mead High School, completed 12 of 30 passes, including touchdown strikes of 10, 36, 42 and 17 yards as Eastern (5-1 overall, 2-1 in the Big Sky) picked up its fifth straight win and stayed within a game of league-leading Northern Arizona in the Big Sky standings.

“I thought he played big,” Eagles coach Mike Kramer said of Garske, who was filling in for injured starter Harry Leons. “They (the Hornets) were in a pressure front and they brought it. You have credit our wide receivers, too. We’re pretty good out there and they played well.”

Wideout Steve Correa caught two of Garske’s touchdown tosses and finished with five receptions for 125 yards. Tailback Joe Sewell added 164 rushing yards and another TD on 22 carries, and Maurice Perigo returned a punt 74 yards for a first-period score.

Sac State (1-4, 0-3) lost its third in a row despite burning the Eagles for 31 first downs and 527 total yards. Quarterback Tony Corbin completed 23 of 45 passes for 361 yards and three TDs as the Hornets rallied from a 30-6 deficit early in the third to within 44-34 with 6 minutes left.

Eastern answered, however, with a 22-yard scoring run by Sewell and maintained the importance of next Saturday’s 1:05 p.m. homecoming matchup against unbeaten Big Sky favorite Montana (5-0, 2-0).

“We have played some teams with better records that haven’t fought us as hard as these guys,” Kramer said of Sac State. “A win on the road in the Big Sky is a big win for anyone, and I feel good about where we’re at.”

E.Washington 20 3 14 14 - 51

Sacramento St 0 3 16 15 - 34

E. Wash.-Miller 10 pass from Garske (Atwood kick) E. Wash.-Correa 36 pass from Garske (kick failed) E. Wash.-Perigo 74 punt return (Atwood kick) Sac. St.-FG Brown 36 E. Wash.-Prescott 7 run (Atwood kick) Sac. St.-FG Brown 48 Sac. St.-Corbin 5 pass to Shultz (run failed) E. Wash.-Correa 42 pass from Garske (Atwood kick) Sac. St.-Smith 13 pass from Corbin (Brown kick) Sac. St.-FG Brown 34 E. Wash.-Jackson 17 pass from Garske (Atwood kick) Sac. St.-Shelton 1 run (kick failed) Sac. St.-Mitchell 12 pass from Corbin (run failed) E. Wash.-Sewell 22 run (Atwood kick) A-4,262.

EW SacSt. First downs 22 22 Rushes-yards 45-196 32-95 Passing 309 432 Comp-Att-Int 12-30-0 28-59-3 Return Yards 87 (-6) Fumbles-Lost 2-1 3-1 Penalties-Yards 12-114 5-20 Time of Possession 30:40 29:20 Individual statistics RUSHINGE. Wash. Sewell 22-176, Prescott 15-38, MacKenzie 1-7, Garske 7-16. Sac. St. Shelton 16-65, G. Smith 7-35, Bennett 6-20, C. Smith 1-6. PASSINGE. Wash. Garske 12-30-0-309. Sac. St. Corbin 23-45-1-361, Jessee 5-14-2-71. RECEIVINGE. Wash. Correa 5-125, Miller 4-89, Ogden 2-78, Jackson 1-17. Sac. St. C. Smith 8-189, Mitchell 8-118, Taylor 5-60, Quincy 3-38, Solis 2-19, Schultz 1-5, Shelton 1-3.

, DataTimes