Eagles Block Out Their Problems, Use Griffith To Lope Past Csun Eagles 48 Matadors 41
There was a reason Mike Kramer didn’t seem overly upset when he learned Friday morning that his starting quarterback Fred Salanoa would be lost for the season with a knee injury.
Actually, there were five reasons; all of them huge and all of them members of Eastern Washington’s imposing offensive line. So, instead of moping over the loss of Salanoa, Kramer’s Eagles jumped on the broad shoulders of Aaron Best, Luke Fritz, John Kane, Chris Polinder and Scott Johnson Saturday night and rode them to a wild 48-41 Big Sky Conference win over Cal State Northridge.
The victory, witnessed by a hearty, wind-chilled Woodward Stadium crowd of 3,556, was highlighted by the multi-record rushing performance of sophomore tailback Jovan Griffith, who galloped through gaping holes for 262 yards and six touchdowns on 42 carries. His six TDs and 42 carries were both single-game records, and his 262 yards were the third-most in school history. In addition, Jesse Chatman, Griffith’s backup, bulled his way for 211 yards on 16 carries, giving the Eagles a school-record 456 yards on the ground. It was the first time Eastern has had two backs rush for more than 150 yards in the same game.
The win evened EWU’s overall record at 2-2 and its Big Sky Conference mark at 1-1. Northridge, despite the phenomenal individual effort of quarterback Marcus Brady, who threw for 484 yards and five touchdowns, fell to 1-2 and 0-1.
“I’m pretty proud of that offensive front,” Kramer said afterward. “I thought our play-calling was exemplary, obviously. And we blocked at all positions well throughout the night.
“We made some timely throws and catches, but basically, those five (offensive linemen) played their rear ends off and that’s why we’re a winner tonight.”
Sophomore Chris Samms, making his first start at quarterback, kept his poise throughout most of the game and completed 9 of 18 passes for 132 yards. He did throw two interceptions, but accomplished just enough with his arm to keep Northridge’s defense from stacking completely against the run.
“Chris is always trying to create things,” Kramer said, referring to Samm’s two ill-advised throws that were picked off. “But he played tonight like he knew what he was doing. He played poised and calm and did what we asked.”
Which was mainly to hand the ball off, stand back and watch.
Still, Northridge managed to make things interesting at the end, scoring on a 26-yard pass from Brady to Ryan Beckwith to pull within a touchdown of the Eagles with 1:33 remaining.
The Matadors tried an onside kick and seemed to have executed it perfectly when the ball bounced off the chest of an Eastern player. Chatman, however, made one more big play, fighting through the pain of a minor ankle sprain he suffered early in the game to pounce on the loose football and preserve the win.
Afterward, Northridge coach Jeff Kearin admitted his team had miles to go in defending against the run.
“Stopping the run has been a concern,” he said. “We didn’t get it done again tonight. We’ve got to look at what were doing on defense.”
The Eagles’ rushing yardage was 83 more than the Matadors allowed in a 71-14 loss at Kansas two weeks ago.
Griffith scored five of his touchdowns and gained 179 yards prior to intermission, averaging 9.4 yards per carry against a Northridge defense that didn’t seem to want any part of this tackling thing.
The Matadors were blown off the line of scrimmage on nearly every play and might have been looking at a much bigger halftime deficit had it not been for Terrence Jones’ electrifying 86-yard touchdown scamper with the opening kickoff and Jack Heaslet’s interception of a tipped pass that stopped an Eagles’ drive inside CSUN’s 10.
As it turned out, Eastern still managed to build a 35-21 cushion after two wildly entertaining periods in which only two players accounted for eight touchdowns.
Griffith scored on runs of 4, 1, 44, 36 and 1 yards for EWU, while Jones scored all three of Northridge’s touchdowns.
Game summary in Stat Sheet/C10