Peerboom enjoys career day

Quarterback is the one position on a football team in which changes are made grudgingly, even if a backup has a great week of practice.

Eastern Washington University made an exception Saturday and Chris Peerboom rewarded their faith.

Peerboom completed 13 of 23 passes for 179 yards and three touchdowns, all career highs for the junior, although the Eagles fell short in a 44-36 loss to Northern Arizona.

The junior started the season opener but suffered a concussion – handing the job to redshirt freshman Matt Nichols – and has played in blowouts since, completing 15 of 34 passes with one touchdown in his five appearances.

“We had a plan that we would rotate Peerboom and Nichols every two series in the first half,” EWU coach Paul Wulff said, the same way they started the season. “Neither one of them warranted being pulled at all. They both did some good things.”

Nichols was 10 of 21 for 112 yards and a touchdown, but he suffered a sprained neck in the opening minute of the fourth quarter and didn’t return.

“I thought Chris did some good things at the end of the Portland State game (last week) and did some good things in practice the last couple of weeks,” Eastern offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin said. “We do it at other positions. I know I’m not usually that way and it’s not that Matt played bad – I wanted to see them both play.”

Though Nichols is obviously the quarterback of the future, especially with freshmen hauling in 18 of the 23 combined completions, it was Peerboom who was in on five of the seven scoring drives.

“I thought they both played well, not seeing film,” Baldwin said. “I was really proud, regardless of how they grade out, that they never quit. Both were put in positions where they were down and got things done. Matt at the start of the second half put us ahead and Chris was down pretty big in the fourth quarter and got us back in the ballgame.”