Meyer, Kimble magical

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – When a desperate Eastern Washington University football team needed them the most, Erik Meyer and Eric Kimble came through.

With the 14th-ranked Eagles on the edge of having their playoff hopes dashed, the “E2” passing combination put on a show.

Meyer threw for a career-high 470 yards with three touchdowns and Kimble caught 10 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns as Eastern destroyed mistake-prone Sacramento State 45-17 before a sparse crowd of 3,102 at Hornets Stadium Saturday evening.

“They’re great players. Great players do that,” Eastern coach Paul Wulff said. “We need them to help us out. They were loading up to stop the run. If they’re going to play man-to-man, we’re going to throw it all day if that’s what we need to do.”

With the Big Sky Conference win, Eastern (5-3, 4-2) can still dream about a conference title and spot in the I-AA playoffs.

“All we can do right now is win the rest of our games and hope for the best,” Kimble said. “Last week (a loss to Weber State) pretty much showed us we weren’t good enough yet and we had to work harder.”

The Hornets (2-7, 1-4) were little more than a pest at the Eagles’ picnic, especially when they tried single coverage on the receivers.

Meyer, who completed 28 of 33 passes, and the starters did their damage in three quarters, but what a magnificent three quarters they were.

“I would say it was definitely one of my best games, but I can’t take all the credit,” Meyer said after the second-best passing game in school history. “The sacks I had were coverage sacks. The offensive line played really well, gave me a lot of time. The receivers made good plays out there. As a group, it was one of our best games.”

The highlight on a day of big plays was the back-breaker and it was typical E2 – meaning amazing.

The Hornets had just scored on two straight possessions – set up by a long kickoff return and a shanked punt – to close within 31-17.

But taking advantage of another silly penalty by the Hornets – they had 13 for 125 yards – the Eagles had good field position and went 47 yards in two plays.

First was a 14-yard laser to Kimble.

Then Meyer scrambled left but was wrapped up by a Hornets defender. Just as he somehow slipped free, Meyer bumped into left tackle Rocky Hanni, which seemed to help the quarterback keep his feet. Then he fired a pass to Kimble at the 5, with two defenders and the ball all arriving at the same time. Kimble bounced out, spun around and waltzed into the end zone.

Overshadowed was a breakout game for tight end Tim Calhoun, who entered the game with seven receptions for 68 yards. He matched his career high with six catches for 123 yards.

“It’s nice to be part of the offense and help out any way you can,” said Calhoun, who missed the last two seasons with injuries. “They don’t cover the tight end on some plays and Money (Meyer) was making plays out there. He threw some awesome balls.”

Meyer started out hot and never cooled.

He marched the Eagles 75 yards in eight plays to open the game, with Craig McIntyre busting a move at the 5 to turn a Meyer pass into a 14-yard touchdown.

By the end of the first quarter he was 11 of 15 for 174 yards, good for a 17-0 lead.

“Our offense came out and executed well, that was big,” Wulff said. “It allowed our defense to settle in and put them in tough situations on offense.”

Meyer completed all 10 of his passes in the second quarter as the lead stretched to 24-3.

It would have been worse if Kimble hadn’t fumbled the ball through the end zone when he was crunched while laying out for a 32-yard reception. But after a defensive stop, Meyer completed passes of 15, 27 and 26 yards to set up the first of Ryan Cole’s two short touchdown runs. Fullback Lars Slind also ran for a touchdown.

Meyer completed 21 of 25 passes to eight difference receivers, for 318 yards in the first half alone, easily putting him on pace to pass Todd Bernett’s school record of 486 yards.

Eastern’s running game never had a chance. Cole was limited to 33 yards and the Eagles netted just 81 because Meyer was sacked three times and Alex Smart twice.

“We expected it. We thought they’d stop the run,” Wulff said. “We knew we were going to have to take shots and we did. We executed. I’m not worried. We want to run the ball better, but at the same time we took what they were giving us. Good teams that have the ability to run and pass can do that.”

Also overshadowed was the Eastern defense, which limited the Hornets to 142 yards rushing and 147 passing despite starting three first-year players on the line. Safety Bryan Jarrett had 11 tackles and linebacker Joey Cwik seven. Brandon Keller and Nick Denbeigh had interceptions.

The Eagles knocked out the Hornets’ three best players – quarterback Chris Hurd, wide receiver Ryan Coogler and running back Ryan Mole – with shoulder injuries in the third quarter.

“For EWU boxscore, see Stat Sheet/C10