Offense Dominates Eastern’S Scrimmage
The offense finally had its way with the defense Saturday morning as Eastern Washington staged its final spring football scrimmage prior to next weekend’s annual Red-White Game.
Eagles quarterback Fred Salanoa connected on 8 of 10 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns and running back Jesse Chatman powered his way to 67 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.
In addition, the offense went 5 for 5 during a red-zone drill, scoring a touchdown on each of its possessions that all started from the defense’s 20-yard line.
“The defense maybe wasn’t quite ready today,” first-year coach Paul Wulff admitted, pointing out that many key players were missing from his defensive unit. “But you’ve got to give some credit to the offense. They did some good things today, especially in the red zone.”
Early on, the No. 1 defense suffocated the No. 2 offense. But when it went head-to-head against Salanoa and the first-string offense it wilted - especially from inside its own 20-yard line.
During the red-zone drill, the No. 1 offense scored three straight times. Salanoa threw for two touchdowns - one a 19-yarder to Joe Levens - and Chatman, a 5-foot-8, 235-pound sophomore, rushed 2 yards for the other.
The No. 2 offense, directed by Chris Samms, also scored on both of its tries from within the red zone. Backup running back Mario Sweet scored on a 2-yard run and Samms, after suffering a sack on the first snap of the series, hit reserve tight end Kyle Delorme with a 19-yard pass for the other touchdown.
In defense of the top two defensive units, they were laboring without eight players who expect to be key contributors next fall. Reasons ranged from injury to illness to academic problems.
“The defense’s lack of depth, because of the injuries and kids we’re holding out right now, kind of showed,” Wulff said. “Especially later in the scrimmage. Early on, I thought the defense played well, but our offense stayed consistent throughout.”
Wide receiver Lamont Brightful scrimmaged for the first time after missing most of spring practice to catch up on some schoolwork. The speedy 5-9 junior, who was also one of the top return men in the Big Sky Conference last fall, caught two passes - one a 48-yarder.
“Having Lamont back out there helped,” Wulff said. “And we’ve designed some new routes to get Joe Levens the ball more. We need to make sure we’re giving the players that can make plays the opportunity to make them.”
Wulff said he was also pleased with the play of his offensive line, which opened some huge holes for Chatman, who did his best running behind right guard Luke Fritz, a 6-4, 296-pound junior and right tackle David Sherrod, a 6-6, 310-pound junior transfer from Memphis.
“(Chatman) and a lot of beef on that right side makes a difference,” Wulff said. “Our offensive front is showing signs of improvement. We knew that was a priority, because we had to fill four starting spots there.
“They’ve still got a lot of work in front of them, but they’ve made strides.”
Notes
The Eagles will practice two more times this week before capping spring practice with the Red-White Game, which kicks off next Saturday at 2 p.m. in Woodward Stadium… . For the first time, the teams for the Red-White Game will be determined by a draft that will take place Tuesday night. “We’re going to see how it goes for us this year,” Wulff said of the decision to scrap the normal format of No. 1s vs. No. 2s. “What tends to happen when you (draft teams) is that you don’t get a great quality game. It’ll be a more balanced game, but a lot of times the quality isn’t there because you’ve intermeshed kids who aren’t used to playing together.”