In Victory, Eagles Do The ‘Monster Mash’ Prescott Earns New Nickname In 51-7 Rout Of Isu

Eastern Washington coach Mike Kramer came up with yet another label for Rex Prescott Saturday.

“He’s our version of Aliens IV,” Kramer said, shortly after the smurf-like running back had fueled Eastern’s 51-7 homecoming football romp past Idaho State by torching the Bengals for 171 yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s a little monster.”

And while he probably didn’t scare anyone with his size, the 5-foot-7, 170-pound senior certainly startled a few ISU defenders with his speed - particularly on the Eagles’ first play from scrimmage when he sprinted through a huge hole over right tackle and raced 85 yards for the game’s opening touchdown.

The run was the fifth-longest in EWU history and wrote the prologue to a runaway victory that sent a modest Woodward Stadium crowd of 3,605 home happy. The win also kept the Eagles, 7-1 overall, alone atop the Big Sky Conference standings at 5-1. Idaho State fell to 1-6 and 0-4.

“Impressive,” Kramer said of the win, which came just one week after a stunning 40-35 upset of Montana on the road. “But we’re still not to the finished, polished level we want to reach.”

The heavily favored Eagles, ranked No. 11 in the ESPN/USA Today Division I-AA poll, weren’t perfect on this perfect football afternoon. But even Kramer had to nit-pick a bit to find fault.

“Defensively, we’re still a couple of percentage points away from where we want to be,” he said. “We weren’t suffocating today. We didn’t have a lot of series of three (plays) and out. But we did play a lot of good defense.”

The Eagles limited ISU to 183 yards of total offense and had the school’s first shutout since midway through the 1987 season dead in their sights until 5 minutes into the final period. That’s when Bengals defensive end Kaili McCray picked up a fumble by Eastern’s third-string tailback, Mike Cappelletti, and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown.

Eastern’s offense amassed 546 total yards and committed only the one turnover. Quarterback Harry Leons, the Big Sky’s leading passer, had another solid outing, completing 15 of 21 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Jeff Odgen hauled in seven more passes for 147 yards and another touchdown. And Josh Atwood connected on three of four field-goal tries.

“We feel like we’ve found our groove,” said Prescott, who averaged 12.2 yards on 14 carries in accounting for the majority of EWU’s 325 rushing yards. “Everything is just rolling for us.”

“When the offensive line gives you time like I’m getting, things seem to happen in slow motion,” added Leons, who threw five interceptions in a 14-7 loss to ISU in 1995. “The game definitely slows down when you’re in a rhythm.”

Things were going so well against the Bengals that even senior offensive tackle Jim Buzzard got a chance to show his elusiveness late in the third quarter. Lined up as an eligible receiver from his tackle spot, Buzzard pulled off the line of scrimmage behind guard T.J. Ackerman on what looked like a sweep, took a handoff from Leons and rumbled around left end for a 13-yard gain.

It was the first collegiate carry for Buzzard, a 6-foot-3, 260-pounder who was a third-team All-American last season.

“I thought I was going to score,” he said. “There was only that one little guy (ISU safety Trevor Bell) to beat. I was thinking, ‘Drop the shoulder or jump? Drop the shoulder or jump?’ Then he cut me.

“I should have jumped.”

Buzzard moved the ball down to the Bengals’ 37-yard line and Cappelletti scored the first touchdown of his career five plays later on an 11-yard run that made it 41-0.

Kramer insisted he wasn’t trying to embarrass the Bengals on the Buzzard play.

“It’s always been part of our repertoire,” Kramer said of the tackle-around trick play. “It’s just something we wanted to do for Buzzard to show him some thanks for all his effort and time.

“It was a play designed to be fun. It wasn’t intended to rub anybody’s nose in it or anything.”

Kramer pulled his starters shortly afterward. Backup linebacker Greg Belzer made the most of the opportunity, intercepting a pass and taking it 42 yards for a TD in the fourth.

ISU played without freshman starting quarterback Seth Burford, who missed the game with a broken wrist. Backup Gary Anderson hurt a shoulder in the second half, and redshirt freshman Kevin McCarthy finished, completing 3 of 14 passes for 39 yards and an interception.

Eastern will step out of the Big Sky to entertain Division I rival Idaho next Saturday at Albi Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m., and Kramer likes the idea of going against the Vandals on turf with a healthy Rex Prescott at running back.

“To get to Nov. 1 with him healthy in spite of all his carries, is a testament to his toughness, his physical conditioning and our damn luck,” Kramer said, “because he’s not a very large child.

“And with two of our last three games on turf, he’s not a little monster any more. Now he’s a huge monster.”

EWU 51, Idaho St. 7

Idaho St. 0 0 0 7 7

E. Washington 7 13 21 10 51

EWUPrescott 85 run (Atwood kick) EWUFG Atwood 24 EWUCorrea 7 pass from Leons (Atwood kick) EWUFG Atwood 26 EWUOgden 77 pass from Leons (Atwood kick) EWUPrescott 1 run (Atwood kick) EWUCappelletti 11 run (Atwood kick) EWUBelzer 42 interception return (Atwood kick) ISUMcCray 31 fumble recovery (Ferrell kick) EWUFG Atwood 34 A3,605.

ISU EWU First downs 11 20 Rushes-yards 38-134 38-328 Passing 49 227 Comp-Att-Int 5-18-1 16-24-0 Return Yards 105 150 Punts-Avg. 7-34 2-36 Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-1 Penalties-Yards 4-47 8-151 Time of Possession 31:09 28:51 RUSHING-Idaho St., Elgaaen 14-82, Nkeyasen 14-53, Baird 2-12, Anderson 2-minus 2, McCarthy 6-minus 11. E. Washington, Prescott 14-171, Freese 9-76, Cappelletti 7-39, MacKenzie 7-29, Buzzard 1-13.

PASSING-Idaho St., McCarthy 3-14-39, Anderson 2-4-10. E. Washington, Leons 15-21-230, Garske 1-3-minus 3.

RECEIVING-Idaho St., Ernst 2-24, Elgaaen 1-13, McBride 1-9, Nkeyasen 1-3. E. Washington, 7-147, Correa 4-41, Mitchell 3-25, Prescott 1-17, Smith 1-minus 3.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)