Eastern searches for leaders

To many it was a forgone conclusion, but Saturday night in Portland it became official: Eastern Washington’s string of seven consecutive winning seasons came to a humbling end with a 34-0 loss to Portland State.

That, by the way, ended a streak of 205 games without being shut out just a week after the Eagles posted their first shutout in 215 games with a 34-0 win at Northern Colorado.

Eastern coach Paul Wulff doesn’t believe his team will throw in the towel for the last three games – two at home, including this weekend’s homecoming game against Northern Arizona.

“I’d like to believe we have enough character and too many kids with a lot of pride who want to keep playing, who love playing football,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to compete and if you’re a competitor, you’re going to compete.”

That said, he added there might be a few changes in store.

“We need more leadership,” he said. “We’ve lacked that all year. We need to continue to foster that with our underclassmen. You always need two, three guys on each side of the ball, at least. Preferably you need leadership at every position.”

Wulff believes there are leaders on the team, calling senior linebacker David Eneberg one of the best he’s had. But on a young team not enough leaders have emerged.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a bad reflection, it just tells you a little bit about our maturity, the age on our team,” he said. “Those kids have to understand they don’t have to be a senior to be a leader. That’s very evident on the offensive side of the ball.”

With tight end Tim Calhoun injured, only one senior, left guard Harrison Nikolao, has started every game on offense.

“We need to talk to them about it,” Wulff said. “We need to put them in position for leadership roles in meetings, practice time. Off-season is a great time to do that: winter conditioning, spring ball, team-building activities.

“If you’re going to be a leader, you have to be a leader at all times.”

EWU will induct Diedrick

Bill Diedrick Jr., a standout athlete at North Central before an All-America career as quarterback at EWU, will be inducted into the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday.

“Spending 36 years in coaching has given me a lot of wonderful honors and opportunities,” Diedrick said. “But none compare to the three honors I received as a player: playing for a national championship, being named All-American and now being selected into the Hall of Fame at Eastern.”

Eastern was 30-8-1 during Diedrick’s years, highlighted by an 11-1 team that lost the 1967 NAIA championship game.

He coached at Hawaii, Ferris, Rogers (head coach), Whitworth, Montana State, Idaho, Washington State, Edmonton, Washington, Stanford, Notre Dame and for the Calgary Stampeders, where he is quarterbacks and wide receivers coach for the playoff-bound Canadian Football League team.

His mother, Lillian, still lives in Spokane. His father, Bill Sr., a legendary local sports figure, died on April 3, 2005.

There is a reception at Reese Court at 11 a.m. (RSVP 359-2463) before an on-field ceremony during the game, which begins at 2:05.

Murrietta moves up

Northern Arizona quarterback Jason Murrietta moved into 10th place on the Big Sky all-time passing list with 9,534 yards.

Murrietta is the active I-AA leader in attempts (1,380), completions (788) and yards, and is second in touchdowns (77).

Murrietta was the Big Sky Offensive MVP in 2003.