Eagles can’t hold on
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The offense was magnificent for more than three quarters, the defense for one and once again Eastern Washington’s trip to the I-AA football playoffs ended in heartbreak.
The 15th-ranked Eagles gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter to lose 41-38 to No. 7 Northern Iowa before 7,746 frenzied fans at the UNI Dome Saturday night.
The last score, a 31-yard field goal by Brian Wingert with 51 seconds left, gave this first-round loss a similar feel to last year’s 35-34 loss to Sam Houston on the last play of the second-round game.
“They made some plays and we didn’t finish the game,” Eastern quarterback Erik Meyer said. “I never had a doubt in my mind we’d score every time.”
Eastern had one last chance, getting the ball on its 20 with those 51 seconds remaining and no timeouts but there was no magic left. Meyer threw for one first down but his fourth-and-1 pass was knocked down by Michael Matthews with 27 seconds left.
The Eagles had been sensational on offense in building a 38-24 lead – Meyer throwing for 387 yards and four touchdowns and adding a rushing touchdown. But then they had their only two three-and-outs.
“If you go a whole game with only two, that isn’t bad,” EWU offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin said. “But when they come at that point at that time, you aren’t supposed to do that.”
Meanwhile, Eric Sanders, NIU’s redshirt sophomore walk-on, was making like Meyer. He completed 31 of 40 passes for 330 yards – 105 yards in the fourth quarter – and two touchdowns.
“He’s an awfully good player – one of the headiest and smartest players I’ve seen in a long time,” Eastern coach Paul Wulff said. “I would have liked to hit him from a pressure standpoint a little bit more. Our defensive line didn’t get the pressure we really needed to keep him off balance.”
The Panthers (9-3) earned a shot at top-ranked New Hampshire (11-1), a 55-21 winner over Colgate (8-4), next Saturday.
Eastern finished its season of promise with a 7-5 record and brought an end to the “E2 Passing Attack” of Meyer-to-Eric Kimble, who had nine receptions for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Raul Vijil had nine catches for 155 and two more touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough.
“Both teams have very good quarterbacks,” Wulff said. “Defensively both teams struggled at times stopping each other. It was a little bit of a game of momentum. We just ended up at the end of the game without the momentum and Northern Iowa did.”
Though the Panthers piled up 506 yards, 176 on the ground, only two runs really hurt the Eagles.
“That kid beat us throwing the football,” Eastern defensive coordinator Jody Sears said. “I just didn’t think he could do it. He’s a good player. They didn’t beat us running the football. They popped two runs. The first one was a bad call, the second one was poor execution.”
David Horne, a senior transfer from Nebraska, ripped off a 58-yarder that set up the first of his three short touchdowns runs for a 14-7 lead in the first quarter. He added 28-yarder on third down on the final drive. He finished with 141 yards on 28 carries.
Sanders was sacked twice but he continually eluded pressure and found open receivers.
“From watching film we knew he had the capability to scramble and throw on the run,” EWU cornerback Jesse Hendrix said. “When it gets to that point, when he starts scrambling, it’s nothing strategic. He happens to make a good throw with a good catch.”
UNI scored on all four of its possessions in the first half for a 24-21 lead but in the third quarter the Eagles forced three punts and recovered a fumble. Eastern scored 10 points and capitalized on Bryan Jarrett’s fumble recovery on a fourth-down stop early in the fourth quarter but that wasn’t enough.
“We had them figured out in the first half, too, we just didn’t stop them,” Eastern linebacker Joey Cwik said. “They just made some plays in the second half. Give them credit.”
The first half was a track meet, with Eastern rolling up 298 yards and the Panthers 275. UNI’s only stop came when Kimble fumbled on the second possession and strong safety Tanner Varner recovered. The Eagles held the Panthers to a field goal on their third possession.
Meyer was red-hot, completing 16 of 20 passes for 269 yards with touchdowns to Kimble and Vijil. Sanders was just as hot, hitting 15 of 16 for 162 and a touchdown.
Though there were countless big plays and many momentum swings, the one play that could have won the game came on the first play after Meyer’s fourth touchdown pass gave Eastern a 38-24 lead with 11:03 to play.
On one of the few poor passes by Sanders, Eastern’s all-conference cornerback Jesse Hendrix dropped a sure interception.
“I thought we were in good shape, but to be honest, I never felt like we were in control,” Wulff said. “I felt like we were battling and battling. I thought if we had the interception that was dropped that could have sealed it. I thought we could definitely run some time off the clock with a two touchdown lead. It just didn’t happen.”