Eastern Rushes Back For Win Griffith, Offensive Line, Lead Eagles Past Sac State In 4Th Eagles 26 Hornets 21
Faced with a series of seemingly complex problems, Eastern Washington wisely stripped the game of football down its most basic elements Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles, banged up beyond belief and operating under the guidance of a young, struggling quarterback, turned the game over to their experienced soldiers on the front lines to secure a comefrom-behind 26-21 Big Sky Conference win over Cal State Sacramento.
Running back Jovan Griffith, with a big assist from his offensive line, darted for 214 yards and the winning touchdown - with just 32 seconds left - as Eastern treated a Woodward Stadium crowd of 3,357 to a 19-point fourth-quarter comeback that decided the issue.
And the Eagles defense, despite playing without four projected preseason starters and a fourth-string free safety, bucked up against Sac State’s much-publicized running game to limit Charles Roberts, the Hornets’ All-American junior running back and last year’s NCAA Division I-AA leading rusher, to 75 yards on 19 carries.
The end result was a much-needed victory that raised EWU’s record to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Sky, and served as a perfect elixir for last weekend’s confidence-sapping 25-7 loss at Montana. The win proved costly, however, as backup running back Jesse Chatman, the league’s fifth-leading rusher, went down with a fourth-quarter knee injury that will probably require season-ending surgery.
According to EWU coach Mike Kramer, the 5-foot-8, 232-pound sophomore who rushed for 837 yards and 10 touchdowns in Eastern’s first eight games, tore the anterior cruciate ligament and medial meniscus in his left knee.
Sac State (4-5, 2-5), which is winless in eight tries against the Eagles, lost its third in a row this fall as Roberts, slowed by a sprained toe and shoulder bruise, was held to one of his least productive games.
“We didn’t come in with any different plan that we normally have,” said junior cornerback Ole Olesen, who had a hand in nine tackles. “We got a little more fired up - you always do against a great running back, but the key is, we’re playing more as a team instead of trying to do each other’s job.
“A couple of games ago, we came to the realization that we’ve been underachieving. We realized that we’re a better defense than we’ve shown, and today we came out and proved it.”
Eastern limited the Hornets to 12 first downs and 326 yards of total offense - 75 of which came on a stunning fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Ricky Ray to Scott Towne that put Sac State up 21-14 with just less than 12 minutes left in the game.
The Eagles had two defenders, Julian Williams and Olesen, in front of Towne on the play, but both mistimed their jumps at an interception and Towne was able to pull the pass down and run untouched into the end zone.
“It was like lightning, and it took us a while to recover from it emotionally,” Kramer said of Ray’s bomb, which was thrown into double coverage against a stiff breeze. “But we played with some great emotion in the fourth quarter and ran the ball with some passion.”
The Eagles certainly didn’t panic in the wake of the long score. On their next two possessions they took advantage of a 45-yard kickoff return by Lamont Brightful and a short punt by Sac State’s Jon Morrissey to march inside the Hornets’ 10-yard line, from where Troy Griggs booted field goals of 31 and 27 yards to cut the deficit to 21-20 with 5:32 remaining.
Then, after Eastern’s defense forced another short Morrissey punt that carried only 28 yards to the Hornets’ 46, the Eagles offense mounted a determined eight-play drive - all runs - that resulted in Griffith’s 5-yard dive over left tackle for the winning touchdown.
The key play came on a third-and-8 from the Sac State 20, when Griffith took a handoff on a counter and followed the blocking of Lance Knaevelsrud for a 10-yard gain.
Knaevelsrud, a senior left tackle, pulled and led the play around the right end, where he forced one Hornet defender to dive into the ground and then leveled another with a crushing block.
“That’s my favorite play,” Knaevelsrud said of the counter that all but decided the issue.
“I think it’s awesome that Lance Knaevelsrud played like the All-American he is at left tackle,” Kramer added. “And he was featured on that (final) drive. Not only did we run behind him on the counter, but we ran behind him on the touchdown dive.”
Eastern’s 251 rushing yards helped take some pressure off sophomore quarterback Chris Samms, who was coming off a five-interception disaster against Montana. Samms completed 12 of 23 passes against Sac State and gave the Eagles their first touchdown on a 47-yard, fourth-down strike to tight end Dan Curley.
EWU 26, Sac State 21
Sacramento 6 8 0 7 - 21
Eastern Wash 0 7 0 19 - 26
Sac-FG Scott Brown 40 Sac-FG Brown 42 EWU-Curley 47 pass from Samms (Griggs kick) Sac-Roberts 1 run (Austin Jr. pass) EWU-Chatman 14 run (Griggs kick) Sac-Towne 75 pass from Ray (Brown kick) EWU-FG Griggs 31 EWU-FG Griggs 27 EWU-Griffith 5 run (Griffith rush failed) A-3,357.
Sac Eastern First downs 13 21 Rushes-yards 35-125 53-251 Passing 201 183 Comp-Att-Int 13-23-0 12-23-1 Return Yards 90 72 Punts-Avg. 7-33.4 4-32 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-1 Penalties-Yards 5-49 5-30 Time of Possession 25:56 34:04
RUSHING-Sacramento St., Roberts 19-75, Wooster 3-19, Barton 4-16, Ray 8-11, Collins 1-4. Eastern Wash., Griffith 37-214, Chatman 14-52, Samms 2-(minus 15).
PASSING-Sacramento St., Ray 13-23-0-201. Eastern Wash., Samms 12-23-1-183.
RECEIVING-Sacramento St., Towne 6-167, Austin Jr. 2-10, Webb 2-3, Roberts 1-14, Lofton 1-5, Barton 1-2. Eastern Wash., Brightful 3-54, Naccarato 3-29, Curley 2-61, Knaevelsrud 2-20, Levingston 1-14, Levens 1-5.