Crunch time

Yesterday’s enemy is today’s best friend.

After 21st-ranked Eastern Washington knocked the stuffing out of 11th-ranked Montana State 35-14 on Saturday, the Eagles hope the Bobcats bounce back.

Eastern (6-4) clinched a tie for second in the Big Sky Conference and can win the automatic bid to the I-AA football playoffs if MSU (6-4, 4-2) can beat No. 3 Montana (7-2, 5-1) in Bozeman next week.

“We start praying now, I guess,” said EWU wide receiver Raul Vijil, whose two touchdown receptions in the third quarter helped break open the game.

“It’s not in our hands,” added safety Bryan Jarrett, who iced the win for 8,399 fans at Woodward Field by returning an interception 38 yards for a touchdown. “We can’t worry about it. We’re going to focus on UC Davis.”

The Eagles kept their playoff hopes alive by containing the Bobcats offense, especially elusive quarterback Travis Lulay, who had 542 yards of total offense last year when Eastern pulled out a 51-44 win in overtime.

“We kept him guessing,” Jarrett said. “We threw in a lot of different coverages this week, we kept moving around and he couldn’t get a read. It was a great game plan and we just executed.”

The Bobcats had 380 yards, but 167 of that came after the Eagles after Jarrett’s return made it 35-7 late in the third quarter. Lulay completed just 25 of 50 passes for 237 yards and ran for another 72, 42 in the fourth quarter.

“We played so much zone coverage that it probably took about half their playbook away,” EWU coach Paul Wulff said. “Our kids played smart and were consistent on defense. They did a good job of flushing Lulay to the sideline.

“(We) just made sure we kept Montana State’s offense in front of us,” he continued. “That is something that hasn’t worked very well in the past for us, but our defense did a great job tonight. I don’t think any other team has slowed their offense down this much all year.”

MSU’s top receiver, Rick Gatewood, had 10 catches but only gained 73 yards, 26 on the first play of the second quarter to kick-start an 80-yard drive that produced a 7-0 lead.

“That’s where the game was won or lost for us,” MSU coach Mike Kramer said. “They really contained our receiving corps and statistically, without many after-catch yards, we weren’t able to keep pace.”

Rick Groves, who capped the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run, only had 13 yards after that to finish with 71.

Eastern then put together back-to-back drives to take a 14-7 halftime lead. Quarterback Erik Meyer had the key play on the first drive with a 19-yard scramble on third-and-8. A pass interference call put the ball on the 2 for a Ryan Cole TD run. The second drive started with Eric Kimble turning a short slant into a 51-yard gain. Fullback Lars Slind bulled in for a 1-yard TD.

“We stuck with our game plan,” Meyer said. “We had a couple of protection break downs (early). … It was definitely frustrating; I think our whole offense was. We knew we definitely had to step it up. Our defense was having a good game. … We were just getting in our groove, warming up.”

Meyer scrambled for 84 yards but lost 34 on five sacks, four in the first quarter. The fifth, late in the third, put him out with a minor concussion. By then he had completed 13 of 22 passes for 206 yards.

After forcing to Bobcats to punt to open the second half, the Eagles went 93 yards in just nine plays. The 17-yard scoring play was a short pass over the middle to Vijil, who slipped out of a couple of tackles and dragged a Bobcat into the end zone with him.

The EWU defense forced a three-and-out and the Eagles went 55 yards for a quick score. Kimble, who had four receptions for 86 yards, started it by turning a middle screen into a 22-yard gain. Meyer found Tyler Coleman for 11 yards on third-and-7 and Vijil capped it on a slant for 6 yards with 2:48 left in the third quarter.

Lulay fumbled the snap on the next play, with Marcus Walker recovering for the Eagles on the 30, but two plays later Nick Marudas sacked Meyer, slamming him down on his head and forcing him from the game. Sheldon Weddle was wide left on a 41-yard field-goal attempt but Jarrett made sure Meyer wasn’t needed after that.

Lulay did engineer an 80-yard touchdown drive to start the fourth quarter, hitting Chaz Guinn for a 13-yard touchdown.

“He’s a good quarterback,” said linebacker Joey Cwik, who led the Eagles with 12 tackles. “I was surprised. He didn’t have the greatest game I’ve seen him play. You can give credit to our defense and our defensive coaches. … The whole game plan was to mix it up, a potpourri of coverages and different fronts.”

It was a great showing for a defense that collapsed last week, allowing 529 yards in a 40-35 loss at Cal Poly.

“I wouldn’t say embarrassed, I just think we know we can play a lot better than that,” said reserve linebacker Jake Young, who finished with five tackles after starter David Eneberg went out early with an ankle injury. “We wanted to prove it and we just got after them.”

Now the Eagles have to concentrate on a difficult season-ending, non-conference opponent while hoping the Bobcats can help them out.

“I was talking to Travis after the game and he said he didn’t want to go out like that,” Meyer said. “I have an awful lot of faith in Montana State and Travis, he’s a great player.”

E. Washington 35, Montana St. 14

MSU—Groves 6 run (Hastings kick)

EWU—R.Cole 2 run (Weddle kick)

EWU—Slind 1 run (Weddle kick)

EWU—Vijil 17 pass from Meyer (Weddle kick)

EWU—Vijil 6 pass from Meyer (Weddle kick)

EWU—Jarrett 38 interception return (Weddle kick)

MSU—Guinn 13 pass from Tr.Lulay (Hastings kick)

A—8,399.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Montana State, Tr.Lulay 12-72, Groves 16-71. Eastern Washington, R.Cole 18-56, Meyer 12-48, Morris 9-27, Kimble 2-13, Slind 2-4, Peerboom 5-(minus 15).

PASSING—Montana State, Tr.Lulay 25-50-1-237, Team 0-3-0-0. Eastern Washington, Meyer 13-22-0-206, Peerboom 0-2-1-0, Kimble 1-1-0-11.

RECEIVING—Montana State, Gatewood 10-73, Guinn 5-63, Miller 3-39, Murray 2-22, Barnhart 2-20, Domineck 2-15, Groves 1-5. Eastern Washington, Kimble 4-86, Vijil 4-37, McIntyre 2-37, Coleman 2-29, Calhoun 1-17, Meyer 1-11.