Eagles Chew Up Outgunned Bears Naia Squad Is No Match For Division I-Aa Eastern

There were plenty of early indications that suspense might be in short supply Saturday night during Eastern Washing ton’s college football opener. There were telling little signs, like the 28-0 lead and 336 yards of total offense the Eagles amassed in the just the first 15 minutes of their eventual 63-7 rout of miserably outmanned Rocky Mountain College.

But the most definitive omen came less than 6 minutes into the game when a Rocky Mountain undergraduate assistant - with his team already trailing by two touch downs and facing a ticklish fourth-and-3 situation near midfield - stuck his head into the media section of Woodward Stadium’s press box and anxiously asked if anyone knew “where the munchies” were.

Free food isn’t regular fare at most NAIA venues. And it was obvious that those members of the Bears’ coaching staff, who were fortunate enough to witness Saturday’s massacre from the safety of the press box, weren’t about to pass on one of the few perks that come from playing a Division I-AA bully like Eastern.

As it turned out, the turkey and ham sandwiches arrived just before halftime. But none were shipped down to the sidelines where Rocky Mountain head coach Jeff Lewis was forced to endure one of the worst beatings imaginable and on an empty stomach, yet.

“They were everything we expected them to be,” Lewis said of the Eagles, who ran up a school-record 39 first downs and 740 yards of total offense. “We knew they were going to be a handful, and they got after us when they had to.”

Senior wide receiver Jeff Ogden, who came into the game without a touchdown reception on his resume, had three against the Bears. And sophomore tight end Tyson Knaevelsrud added a pair of TD catches before leaving early in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be an ankle sprain.

The Eagles’ quarterback tandem of Harry Leons and Griffin Garske threw for 443 yards and six touchdowns, and senior tailback Rex Prescott rushed for 101 yards on just 13 carries. Eastern’s 63 points were the most scored by an Eagles team since 1974 and gave fourth-year coach Mike Kramer his most lopsided win.

“For the most part, I’m pretty satisfied,” Kramer said. “Everyone played well and played well together. Credit our guys. They executed.

“You can talk about playing an NAIA opponent all you want, but you still have to be able to snap the ball, drop and throw the ball under pressure, so it isn’t like just playing catch.

“We’re a damn good football team. Maybe we had no business playing these guys, but we did. And we made the best of the opportunity.”

Kramer said his only disappointment came from the way his team defended against Rocky Mountain’s spread passing game and covered kickoffs.

The Bears, working out of a shotgun formation, burned EWU’s young secondary for 235 yards through the air. Quarterback Austin Linsey completed 15 of 42 passes and set up his team’s only touchdown with a 62-yard third-quarter strike to Chris Horn. That led to Jarod Tocco’s 2-yard scoring run.

The Bears, from Billings, Mont., also rolled up 181 yards on 10 kickoff returns.

“We were a little concerned that we didn’t get more pressure on the quarterback,” Kramer admitted in reference to his lowly number of four sacks. “But in relationship to that type of offense, we hardly ever get the quarterback down.

“Credit (Linsey). In this offense, when you have a guy who can throw the football like him, you’re going to move the ball. The field is just too big for us to cover with the skill level we have in our secondary. We’re just not going to blanket anybody or shut anybody down that throws four or five wide receivers at us.”

Kramer was also impressed with the way Rocky Mountain hit from the opening kickoff to the final gun.

“We got into a flow, scored 28 quick points, took a deep breath and then relaxed a little bit,” he explained. “But, hey, Rocky Mountain’s kids are just like our guys. They’re all 22-year-old guys and they’ve got some pride, too.”

EWU 63, Rocky Mountain 7

Rocky Mntn 0 0 7 0 - 07

E.Washington 28 0 14 21 - 63

EWU-Knaevelsrud 29 pass from Leons (Atwood kick) 12:08 EWU-Ogden 42 pass from Leons (Atwood kick) 9:04 EWU-MacKenzie 3 run (Atwood kick) 3:31 EWU-Ogden 2 pass from Garske (Atwood kick) 0:00 EWU-Correa 25 pass from Leons (Atwood kick) 11:54 EWU-Ogden 28 pass from Leons (Atwood kick) 3:04 RMC-Tocco 2 run (McKenna kick) 1:35 EWU-Freese 6 run (Atwood kick) 13:02 EWU-Knaevelsrud 26 pass from Garske (Atwood kick) 9:26 EWU-Cappelletti 1 run (Atwood kick) 1:44

RMC EWU First downs 14 39 Rushes-yards 20-53 42-297 Passing 235 443 Comp-Att-Int 15-42-0 29-40-0 Return Yards 181 80 Punts-Avg. 8-33 3-41 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards 2-10 8-71 Time of Possession 24:31 35:29

RUSHING-Rocky Mountain, Bennett 4-46, Hirsch 1-17, Tocco 3-6, Hallett 1-minus 3, Linsey 8-minus 13. EWU, Prescott 13-101, MacKenzie 13-85, Freese 10-80, Cappelletti 6-31.

PASSING-Rocky Mountain, Linsey 15-42-0-235, Hallett 0-0-0-0. EWU, Leons 14-21-0-252, Garske 15-19-0-191.

RECEIVING-Rocky Mountain, C. Horn 8-189, J. Horn 2-30, Hirsch 2-3, Lords 1-6, Bennett 1-5, J. Lords 1-2. EWU, Mitchell 5-85, Ogden 4-88, Knaevelsrud 4-71, Correa 4-59, Johnson 4-51, MacKenzie 3-31, Prescott 2-27, Smith 1-14, Elsworth 1-13, Vallew 1-4.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo