Full Speed Ahead: Eagles Run Hilltoppers Out Of Playoffs

Eastern Washington University moved within a win of playing for a national football championship Saturday afternoon.

And it moved there by running the football better than Western Kentucky, the nation’s best running team.

The Eagles, behind the push of its offensive line and the running-back tandem of Rex Prescott and Mike MacKenzie, abused the Hilltoppers for 405 total yards - including 278 on the ground - and powered their way to a 38-21 win in the quarterfinals of the Division I-AA playoffs.

An Albi Stadium crowd of 6,829 watched Eastern (12-1) sprint to a 24-7 lead late in the second quarter and then shackle WKU’s I-Bone option to become the winningest team in school history.

The victory earned the third-seeded Eagles the right to host a semifinal game at Albi next Saturday at 12:30 p.m. against eighth-seeded Youngstown State (11-2), a 37-34 quarterfinal winner over top-seeded and previously unbeaten Villanova.

Villanova’s loss, coupled with McNeese State’s 14-12 upset of second-seeded Western Illinois, leaves Eastern as the highest seed among the four remaining teams. Next weekend’s semifinal winners advance to the championship game Dec. 20 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

And senior offensive tackle Jim Buzzard said he likes the Eagles’ chances of winning it all.

“We think we’re going to do it,” Buzzard said after helping break apart a Western Kentucky defense that had allowed an average of just 84.8 rushing yards per game. “Villanova lost, Western Illinois lost, we’re at home again - everything’s going our way.”

Eagles coach Mike Kramer wasn’t as definitive with his postgame comments, but he wasn’t exactly lacking for confidence, either.

Kramer said he was particularly pleased with the way his veteran team stayed focused amid rumors he might be leaving for Utah State.

“We’ve got 15 seniors and this is their opportunity,” Kramer said. “Coaches come and go … but players only have one career. And I don’t think there’s anything outside of something cataclysmic that could stop them right now.

“These guys could coach themselves, literally. They have great leadership, great poise and a great work ethic. I’m just humbled to be along on their ride.”

Prescott, one of those 15 seniors, rushed for 124 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries, but shared the spotlight with MacKenzie, his junior backup, who pounded for 163 yards and two TDs on just 10 carries.

MacKenzie rambled 19 yards for the score that put Eastern ahead 17-7 early in the second quarter, and iced the game with an 89-yard scoring sprint - the third-longest in school history - that increased EWU’s lead to 31-14 with 8:07 left.

“They’ve got two outstanding backs,” admitted Western Kentucky coach Jack Harbaugh, whose Hilltoppers finished 10-2. “Prescott’s got some great quickness, but the other kid - is it MacKenzie? - he’s got some talent, too.

“It doesn’t really matter, I guess, if you get shot by one type of gun or another. You’re still shot.”

Hilltoppers linebacker Ron Kelly was among those most surprised by EWU’s ability to run the ball.

“Because we’ve stopped the run all year,” he said. “We knew they were a well-balanced team that could run and throw, but it took us too long to adjust to their running backs cutting back.

“We were flowing over the top a little too much.”

Still, it took a huge goal-line stand by Eastern’s defense early in the fourth quarter to let Kramer loosen his collar.

WKU was trailing 24-14 at the time, but looking at a fourth down just inches from the Eagles’ goal line. Fullback Latravis Powell, who had been the Hilltoppers’ main offensive weapon all afternoon, got the call over right guard, but was stopped short by Eastern’s Steve Mattson, who had submarined from his defensive end spot.

“To me, that was the whole game,” Kramer said. “It was late in the ballgame, we had given up lots of yards and lots of plays and they were crawling back at us.”

The Eagles offense, sneering in the face of horrible field position, then overcame a holding penalty to push the ball out to their 11 before springing MacKenzie loose over left tackle on his long touchdown run.

“I knew they had a really good run defense,” MacKenzie said of the Hilltoppers, an independent from Bowling Green, Ky., “but I knew our offensive line is the best in the Big Sky, if not the nation, too.

“Watching them on film, I knew certain plays of ours would work. And they did.”

Nearly overshadowed by EWU’s rushing dominance was another splendid defensive effort that limited the nation’s top-rushing team to 173 yards on the ground.

Quarterback Willie Taggart, the trigger man in Harbaugh’s option and his team’s leading rusher, was held to 11 net yards on 24 carries. The 5-11 senior passed for 136 yards and two touchdowns, but completed just 4 of 12 throws and was sacked three times.

“After reading in the media and seeing what their coach said, I knew coming into the game they were going to try to take the ball out of my hands,” Taggart said. “I don’t know if they’re the best defense we played all year, but they played us great today. I rank them right up there with the best, if not the best.”

Eastern held Western Kentucky 193 yards below its average of 366, and stopped the Hilltoppers several times inside their own 20.

“I thought we, on occasion, moved the ball fairly well,” Harbaugh said. “But when we needed to sustain it, they always seemed to come up with the big play.

“The credit goes to them. They were the better team today.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos