Eagles put the brakes on No. 2 Grizzlies

MISSOULA – Eastern Washington’s Meyer Magic offense was mesmerizing once again, quieting the majority of the 23,732 fans at Washington Grizzly Stadium Saturday afternoon, but credit for the 34-20 win in the Big Sky Conference football showdown with No. 2 Montana goes to the Eagles’ defense.

Despite being overshadowed by Erik Meyer’s five touchdown passes, the defense stuffed Montana’s powerful running game to spearhead a critical win for the 12th-ranked Eagles (4-2, 3-1) in a place where the Grizzlies had won 10 straight games and had lost only 16 times in 136 previous games.

“There are a lot of keys, but to be able to contain their run game like we did and force them to throw it more than they wanted to … and be able to score points, took them out of their game plan,” Eastern coach Paul Wulff said. “We got them out of the things they naturally want to do.”

Montana running back Lex Hilliard was held to 53 yards, about half his average, on 15 carries, none in the fourth quarter.

“I think that’s too much,” EWU middle linebacker Joey Cwik joked. “No, he’s a good player; they’re a good team. … At the beginning of the week we had a bunch of different things we were putting in … then we just said forget about it, we’re going to run our base call, that’s what we’re going to run all game. When it comes down to it, it’s just us and them. It’s not what the coaches call, it’s what we do.”

And the Eagles were good, with seven tackles for losses, including two sacks. Safety Bryan Jarrett had nine tackles in his second start, and Cwik had eight.

“I’m real proud of them,” EWU defensive coordinator Jody Sears said. “They executed the game plan. … I thought we did exactly what we wanted to do. (Hilliard) is a great running back. He runs hard and breaks a lot of tackles. I thought we did a good job tackling.”

In just his second start, UM quarterback Cole Bergquist hit 25 for 40 passes for 246 yards but it didn’t translate on third down with the Grizzlies (4-2, 2-1) converting just 1 of 11, and he had one critical turnover early in the fourth quarter.

“If we can’t run the ball better than we did today, we’re not going to win,” UM coach Bobby Hauck said. “They did a good job on defense. … I give them credit for their best defensive effort of the year. I’ve seen all their games.

“What we thought we had coming into the game, we couldn’t knock them off the ball. They controlled the line of scrimmage and that’s the story of the game,” Hauck added.

Meyer completed 28 of 40 passes for 395 yards and scrambled around for 42 yards despite two sacks, which translated into 541 yards of total offense with 9 of 14 third-down conversions.

“That killed us today,” said Grizzlies defensive back Tyler Joyce, whose third-quarter interception near the goal line early in the third quarter kept the game from turning into a rout.

“One of the main factors is that we couldn’t get off the field. Third-and-long they converted consistently all day long. We couldn’t stop it.”

Eric Kimble was the main target with 10 catches for 168 yards and a stunning 34-yard touchdown off a middle screen, but Craig McIntyre was the game breaker with touchdown catches of 30, 32 and 31 yards in each of the first three quarters and finished with a career-high 134 yards on six receptions.

“I saw the ball up in the air, the only thing I know how to do is come down and make the play and that’s pretty much what happened,” McIntyre said. “The one in the second quarter I knew it was coming to me. The first and the last one, I was just running the route, looked up and the ball was coming my direction.”

Twice he adjusted just in time to beat the defensive back to balls that looked like they were thrown up for grabs.

“I definitely have all the confidence in the world in my receivers,” Meyer said. “I saw one-on-one matchups and I just tried to put the ball where they can make the play. I believe in my receivers that they will make that play and today they made a lot of plays.”

Raul Vijil provided the clincher with an 8-yard TD reception with 2:10 to play, capping a nine-play, 80-yard drive that started after a Dan Carpenter field goal put the Grizzlies within a touchdown with 6:05 remaining.

Meyer connected with Kimble to convert a third down, and then Kimble outmaneuvered a defensive back for a 29-yard gain to put the ball in the red zone, setting up Vijil’s third-down catch.

“We knew we had to come in here and take shots,” Wulff said. “We weren’t going to be passive and win the ballgame. We were going to be aggressive as much as we needed and with our confidence in our veteran players, we knew we had to do those things.”

Running back Ryan Cole helped make that possible with 99 yards on 31 rushes.

“It was real tough,” Cole said. “We knew they would be a good defense. I think we ran the ball OK; there are some things we need to fix. They were tough yards, but the fact is we were able to throw the ball and make big plays.”

E. Washington 34, Montana 20

EWU–McIntyre 30 pass from Meyer (kick failed)

UM–Hilliard 3 run (Carpenter kick)

EWU–Kimble 34 pass from Meyer (Weddle kick)

EWU–McIntyre 32 pass from Meyer (Weddle kick)

UM–FG Carpenter 30

EWU–McIntyre 31 pass from Meyer (Weddle kick)

UM–Hagley 22 pass from Bergquist (Carpenter kick)

UM–FG Carpenter 26

EWU–Vijil 8 pass from Meyer (Weddle kick)

A–23,732.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Eastern Washington, Cole 31-99, Meyer 7-42, Slind 1-6, Team 1-(minus 1). Montana, Hilliard 15-53, Ferriter 1-38, Green 4-15, Bergquist 9-14, Troxel 1-5, Team 1-(minus 10).

PASSING–Eastern Washington, Meyer 28-40-1-395. Montana, Bergquist 25-40-0-246.

RECEIVING–Eastern Washington, Kimble 10-168, McIntyre 6-134, Vijil 6-74, Coleman 3-14, Cole 3-5. Montana, Bagley 9-102, Ferriter 8-87, Troxel 3-19, Jackson 2-27, Hilliard 2-6, Talmage 1-5.