Eastern Triumphs, Loses Two Starters
Eastern Washington took a successful - but painful - step up in class Saturday night.
The 21st-ranked Eagles, after dusting off a pair of NAIA opponents to open their college football season, thrashed Portland State 31-14 to kick off their Big Sky Conference schedule.
The win, witnessed by a Civic Stadium crowd of 8,216, gave EWU an early lead in the conference standings, along with their first 3-0 start since 1986.
But it came at a dear price.
Senior tailback Rex Prescott and sophomore tight end Scott Johnson sustained injuries that could keep them sidelined for extended periods. Prescott partially dislocated his right shoulder and Johnson sprained his right knee.
Eagles coach Mike Kramer said both players would be evaluated later this week, but admitted it didn’t look like either would be ready for this Saturday’s matchup at home against Weber State.
Still, Kramer remained upbeat about his team and how it overcame a mistake-filled first half to hand the Vikings (0-3) a lopsided loss in their first home game.
Senior wide receiver Steve Correa scored two touchdowns for the Eagles, one on a 20-yard second-quarter pass reception and the other on a 97-yard, fourth-quarter kickoff return that came in answer to PSU’s first offensive touchdown of the year.
Quarterback Harry Leons threw for 218 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Mike MacKenzie ran for 99 yards and another touchdown on 25 carries after taking over at tailback when Prescott went down midway through the second quarter.
“On the positive side, maybe Rex will be fresh come November,” Kramer said. “MacKenzie stepped in and did a yeoman’s job of carrying the football.
“I’m not sure we blocked for him as efficiently as (offensive line) coach Paul Wulff would have liked, but I felt like we did what we needed to do to get the job done, and that’s the sign of a good football team.”
The Eagles dominated the game early, but kicked away several chances to put the Vikings away. And their 17-0 halftime lead was almost as deceiving as PSU’s first-half offense was futile.
In the first two periods, the Eagles rolled up 283 yards of total offense, came up with four turnovers and drove inside the Vikings’ 30-yard line on six of their first nine possessions.
But that produced only Leons’ touchdown passes and Josh Atwood’s 29-yard field goal. The Eagles turned the ball over twice inside PSU’s 15-yard line and came up empty on two other field-goal tries.
“Offensively, we moved the ball well, but just couldn’t punch it in there at the beginning of the game,” said Leons, who completed 15 of 23 passes and threw one interception, “and I was mostly at fault for that.
“But the offensive line gave me the time I needed to correct my mistakes.”
Correa said he sensed plenty of frustration among his offensive teammates at halftime.
“We can’t play like we did in the first half against other Big Sky teams,” he said. “It took us too long to get going tonight.”
PSU lost the ball three times on fumbles and three times on interceptions, but played hard in the second half behind backup quarterback Jim Blanchard.
Blanchard, a redshirt freshman, relieved senior starter Ty Parsons and completed 14 of 24 passes for 117 yards and one touchdown. He threw his scoring strike to Orshawante Bryant from 15 yards out and later directed a 60-yard drive that was capped by Charles Dunn’s 1-yard run.
“The offensive line protected well and our receivers made some great catches,” Blanchard said. “Once we start playing together for two halves - offense and defense - we’ll be a good football team. I still think we can play with anyone.”
Eastern is host to Weber State next Saturday night at 6:35.
Eastern 31, Portland St. 14
E. Washington 3 14 7 7 - 31
Portland 0 0 0 14 - 14
Eas-FG Atwood 29, 8:07
Eas-Correa 20 pass from Leons (Atwood kick), 3:55.
Eas-Knaevelsrud 26 pass from Leons (Atwood kick), 3:40.
Eas-MacKenzie 4 run (Atwood kick), 11:23.
Por-Bryant 15 pass from Blanchard (kick failed), 14:04.
Eas-Correa 97 kickoff return (Atwood kick), 13:47.
Por-Dunn 1 run (Harris pass from Blanchard), 11:04.
A-8,216.
EAS POR
First downs 23 17
Rushes-yards 44-164 29-163
Passing 218 139
Comp-Att-Int 15-23-1 20-40-3
Return Yards 180 138
Punts-Avg. 3-45.7 6-38.8
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 5-3
Penalties-Yards 5-57 13-126
Time of Possession 32:21 27:39
RUSHING-E. Washington, MacKenzie 25-99, Prescott 13-68, Freese 1-6, Leons 5-(-9). Portland St., Dunn 20-122, Blanchard 3-26, Clemons 3-22, Parsons 3-(-7).
PASSING-E. Washington, Leons 15-23-1-218. Portland St., Blanchard 14-24-1-117, Parsons 6-16-2-22.
RECEIVING-E. Washington, Ogden 5-81, Correa 4-50, Knaevelsrud 2-39, Ballew 2-19, MacKenzie 1-25, Johnson 1-4. Portland St., Bryant 6-55, Harris 5-27, Allen 3-35, Williams 3-22, Clemons 2-(-3), Craft 1-3.
, DataTimes