Eagles fly past Bobcats
BOZEMAN – The last two seasons Eastern Washington ended its Big Sky Conference football season with critical wins over Montana State, ultimately leading to a share of the league title.
This time the teams squared off in the league opener before 12,847 fans at Bobcat Stadium Saturday afternoon and the struggling Eagles’ 19-10 win may prove to be just as big.
“I’ll never forget the last two, but we needed a win,” senior linebacker and co-captain David Eneberg said. “We were in dire straits. We’re 1-0 when it matters.”
A hard week of practice paid off as the Eagles (1-3) were dominant up front from the first play of the game, when they forced a turnover, to the last, when they ran out the clock to finish with almost a 15-minute advantage in time of possession.
“What happens when you run the ball and stop the run?” head coach Paul Wulff yelled to his team in the jubilant locker room.
Their unanimous answer was obvious.
Paced by the 93 yards of Toke Kefu in his first game, Eastern pounded out 125 rushing yards. That also contributed to Matt Nichols having plenty of time in the pocket to hit 11 of 19 passes for 176 yards.
A week after a freak play was the only completion for more than 19 yards against Central Washington, Nichols had four throws gain between 24 and 35 yards. The Eagles also converted on 7 of 15 third downs. In fact, the Eagles had 113 of their 301 total yards on third down.
”(The coaches) worked with me this week, mainly just comfort in the pocket and stepping up and finding guys instead of scrambling,” Nichols said. “I just think the offensive line had great pass protection.”
On the other side, the defense held the Bobcats (1-3) to 88 yards rushing and put so much pressure on that, although Cory Carpenter completed 19 of 23 passes, it only produced 147 yards. He was also sacked three times and converted just four of 11 third downs.
“In the Central game the D-line was really concerned about not making mistakes,” sophomore defensive end Greg Peach said. “This week in practice we decided if we make a couple of mistakes we’re not going to worry about it, we’re going to get some pressure.”
The Eagles proved themselves in the third quarter.
After grinding out a 9-0 halftime lead, Marcosus LeBlanc picked off a Nichols pass at the EWU 20 on the third play of the second half. Three plays later, Michael Jefferson turned a short pass into a 14-yard scamper into the end zone when safety Anthony Dodson missed the ball going for an interception.
Eastern responded with a nine-play, 80-yard drive, capped by Kefu’s 1-yard run. Seven plays were runs, made possible by Nichols hitting Aaron Boyce for 25 yards early and Tony Davis for 28 yards late.
“Something we really haven’t had this year was the run game and I think that really opened up the pass,” Nichols said.
Montana State came back with a 40-yard field goal from Jeff Hastings, but again the Eagles responded. They converted three straight third downs on a 12-play, 52-yard drive that lead to Brett Bergstrom’s 30-yard field goal, his fourth of the game.
Bobcats coach Mike Kramer said, “This was not a debacle today. This was a well-played ballgame by both teams. Both teams had opportunities to win. They made more plays than we did in the second half when they kept drives alive. … I’m unhappy, but I’m not discouraged.”
The Eagles took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter when Keith Grennan forced Isaiah Taito to fumble and Peach recovered on the Bobcat 23. The Eagles got to the 3 before Bergstrom kicked a field goal for Eastern’s first first-quarter points this year.
Eastern Washington 19, Montana State 10
| Eastern Washington | 3 | 6 | 7 | 3 | — | 19 |
| Montana State | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | — | 10 |
EWU—FG Bergstrom 21
EWU—FG Bergstrom 53
EWU—FG Bergstrom 39
MSU—Jefferson 14 pass from Carpenter (Hastings kick)
EWU—Kefu 1 run (Bergstrom kick)
MSU—FG Hastings 40
EWU—FG Bergstrom 30
A—12,847.
| EWU | MSU | |
| First downs | 12 | 13 |
| Rushes-yards | 43-125 | 24-88 |
| Passing | 176 | 147 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 11-19-1 | 19-23-1 |
| Return Yards | 0 | 19 |
| Punts-Avg. | 3-53.3 | 4-48.0 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 0-0 | 2-2 |
| Penalties-Yards | 6-49 | 6-41 |
| Time of Possession | 37:10 | 22:50 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Eastern Washington, Kefu 24-93, D.Cole 7-14, Alexander 4-11, Searcy 1-10, T.Davis 1-3, Nichols 4-(minus 3), Team 2-(minus 3). Montana State, Taito 16-54, Mason 3-37, Carpenter 5-(minus 3).
PASSING—Eastern Washington, Nichols 11-19-1-176. Montana State, Carpenter 19-23-1-147.
RECEIVING—Eastern Washington, T.Davis 6-89, A.Boyce 2-49, B.Brown 2-38, D.Cole 1-0. Montana State, Wheaton 5-33, Jefferson 4-26, Toliver 3-33, Bostick 3-19, Mason 2-15, Taito 1-11, Schreibeis 1-10.