Hornets can sting the Eagles
Hold on one minute.
Before chalking up an Eastern Washington win over Sacramento State and looking ahead to two critical games in the Eagles’ quest for the Big Sky Conference title and the I-AA football playoffs, don’t overlook today’s 2 p.m. homecoming game.
The Hornets (2-5, 1-4 Big Sky) have only two wins over Eastern in 12 meetings, but they have come in their last two visits to Woodward Field, stinging the Eagles 25-22 in 2000 and 48-41 two years ago.
That should be enough to keep the 25th-ranked Eagles (5-3, 4-1), who are coming off a 51-7 romp at winless Weber State, from looking ahead to season-ending games against Cal Poly and Montana State, both Top 25 teams.
“They better not be,” coach Paul Wulff cautioned his Eagles about looking ahead. “We have to do everything we can do to keep them focused on the task at hand. This game is every bit as important as the first eight and the next two, so I don’t know how we cannot be focused on it.”
By winning out the Eagles would probably make the I-AA playoffs and could be league champions, but a loss to Sac likely erases those possibilities.
“It’s an important game. It’s homecoming,” Wulff said. “We have to execute. We have to play good football. We have been playing good football for the most part all year and that cannot waver.”
The good news is the Hornets have not won a road game since their last visit to Cheney and are 0-9 on the road under second-year coach Steve Mooshagian.
Still, it’s not as if Sacramento State is a pushover.
The offense features sensational wide receiver Fred Amey; Ryan Leadingham, a four-year starter at quarterback; and a dangerous running back in Tyronne Gross, who had 153 yards against the Eagles in 2002.
When Eastern won 38-21 last year, Leadingham missed the game with an injury and Gross had three carries. Amey had nine receptions for 133 yards, but the Eagles picked off five passes.
“They have the ability to make plays on you because they have talent,” Wulff said. “They have a couple of receivers who are very athletic and a senior quarterback who shows flashes of great things, so they can hurt you in their passing game. They have the capability of running the ball on you, so they are balanced on offense.”
The defense is getting better. The Hornets have 24 sacks (compared to EWU’s 16, nine which came last week). After no interceptions in the first five weeks, the Hornets have picked off seven in two games. Last week at Idaho State they forced five turnovers, but only turned that into seven points in a 29-24 loss.
“Defensively, they’re very good at cornerback,” Wulff said. “The linebackers are active so they create some issues. They do a nice job of mixing in blitz and playing zone coverage, so we have to be real disciplined to handle them.”
Ramon Payne, a 6-2, 190-pound cornerback, was the league and national defensive player of the week with this career line: three interceptions, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, two passes broken up, eight tackles, two for loss including one sack.
So why is Sac struggling?
“They have enough talent to make things happen,” Wulff said. “They’ve had some turnover issues which have hurt them. Their offensive line is a little inexperienced, so that has hurt them a little bit. They’re somewhat young and inexperienced and I think that is a large part of that. But they’ve played pretty well at times.”
Eastern leads the Sky in rushing offense (195.6 yards), scoring offense (35.6 points) and total offense (452.2 yards). Sac is last in scoring offense (15.4) and seventh in scoring defense (33.1).
The Eagles can clinch a sixth straight winning season, a first as a I-AA program.
Then they can look ahead to closing the season against No. 5 Cal Poly in Cheney and No. 24 Montana State in Bozeman.