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Good Win Warms Up Latest Rival Eastern Takes On Another Team That Just Pelted Montana State

By Steve Bergum steveb@spokesman.com

Paul Wulff keeps waiting to catch an opponent in a bit of a funk, but a quirky schedule just isn’t going to let it happen.

For the third week in a row, Wulff’s Eastern Washington Eagles will butt helmets with a Big Sky Conference foe fresh off a confidence-building victory.

This time, it’s Northern Arizona (3-5 overall, 2-4 Big Sky), which invades Woodward Stadium for this afternoon’s 12:35 matchup against the Eagles (4-5, 3-3).

The game, which will be televised regionally by Fox Sports Net, will mark the final home appearance for 14 Eastern seniors, including 11 starters. Wulff would like nothing better than to send his veterans out with a win, but he expects another tight, difficult battle against the Lumberjacks, who beat up on winless Montana State 32-9 last Saturday.

“They struggled for a spell there when they lost (five straight) games,” Wulff said of NAU, “but we always seem to face a team that is coming in with a little bit of confidence because they just won last week.

“We always seem to be facing a team that just played Montana State.”

Remarkably, NAU is the third straight Big Sky team to play the Eagles one week after beating up on the lowly Bobcats. Eastern caught Weber State coming off its win over MSU earlier in the year, and next Saturday’s foe, Portland State, plays the Bobcats today.

Not all of NAU’s renewed confidence stems from last Saturday’s dominance of MSU. The Lumberjacks, in their third season under coach Jerome Souers, are also riding the high of Francis St. Paul’s recent return to the lineup.

St. Paul, a senior wide receiver who ranks No. 2 on NAU’s career list with 22 touchdown catches, missed the Lumberjacks’ first six games while serving an NCAA suspension that resulted from his playing in several games last fall while he was ineligible.

The speedy 5-foot-9, 185-pounder has started the last two games and has already caught 15 passes for 115 yards. He also returned a punt for a touchdown against Montana State.