Eastern’s road ends in Carolina

BOONE, N.C. – Eastern Washington University’s wonderful late-season run ended Saturday afternoon, but not with the ear-piercing screech many expected.

Two-time defending national champion Appalachian State applied the brakes, but couldn’t bring the resilient Eagles to a complete stop until the final seconds of the game when Chase Laws covered an onside kick to settle the issue and give the fifth-ranked Mountaineers a 38-35 victory in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

A crowd of 16,947 was on hand at Kidd Brewer Stadium as ASU (11-2) took another big step toward an unprecedented third consecutive national title behind the excellent overall play of sophomore quarterback Armanti Edwards and the suffocating pass coverage of its veteran secondary.

Edwards threw for 221 yards two touchdowns and also finished as the game’s leading rusher with 126 yards and another score on 23 carries. The Mountaineers’ secondary, with senior safety Corey Lynch serving as it anchor, did a splendid job of shutting down EWU’s high-octane pass game – at least until the final few minutes when quarterback Matt Nichols seemed to figure some things out and led the Eagles to two late touchdowns.

But it was three big turnovers and an uncharacteristic lack of first-half production in the red zone that ultimately doomed the Eagles (9-4), who came in having won five consecutive games.

“It was tough game for us,” Eastern coach Paul Wulff said. “I thought, defensively, Appalachian State did a good job of keeping us off balance enough and not allowing us to get into a rhythm offensively. It was a combination of them doing that and us not executing.

“We had two red-zone opportunities where we didn’t score points, which kind of caught up with us in that first half, because it kept us from getting into any kind of rhythm or building any confidence”

Nichols, a sophomore, completed 24 of 42 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw an interception and lost a fumble.

“We just kind of got in a funk,” said Nichols, the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year, who finished the season with a school-record 34 touchdown passes. “Our defense was trying to keep us in it, but when you keep giving the ball back after one play and they have to go right back out there, you can’t really expect them stop everything.

“They still did for the most part, and then we finally made some plays on offense at the end and tried to make a run at it, but we were a play or two short.”

Nichols directed two late scoring drives, hitting Matt Martin with a 2-yard touchdown pass with 28 seconds remaining to keep the outcome in doubt until the ensuing onside kick was covered by ASU. But had it not been for a couple of touchdowns turned in by the Eastern special teams, none of that would have mattered.

Eastern trailed 21-7 at intermission but closed to within 21-14 on its first possession of the second half, taking advantage of a questionable running-into-the-kicker penalty to score on a fake punt.

After apparently kicking the ball away on fourth-and-17 from its 44-yard line, EWU got a second chance when Lynch just missed blocking the kick and apparently rolled onto the foot of Eagles punter Fritz Brayton.

The 5-yard penalty moved the ball to the 49 and on the fourth-down do-over, Bryan Jarrett, one of the up backs in the Eagles’ punt formation, took a direct snap from center, bolted through huge hole over left tackle and raced 51 yards for touchdown.

Eastern scored another special teams touchdown 5 minutes later when A.J Jimerson took the kickoff following a Mountaineers field goal and sprinted 78 yards to the end zone, pulling the Eagles to within three at 24-21. It was EWU’s first kickoff return for a touchdown since 2001.

But ASU answered with two more quick scoring drives to build its lead back to 38-21 with just more than 6 minutes remaining.

Edwards did a near-perfect job of directing the Mountaineers’ spread option, and Lynch seemed to get involved in nearly every big play, blocking a field-goal attempt, picking off a pass and recovering a fumble.

“He’s obviously their leader. He’s a stud,” tight end Tom McAndrews, one of 12 seniors who played their final game for the Eagles, said of the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Lynch. “But the big thing was turnovers. I think we were plus-15 coming into the game and today we turned it over three times and they didn’t turn it over at all.

“That’s why we’re finished and they’re still playing.”

Edwards carved up Eastern’s defense in a big way in the first half, running for the game’s first touchdown and lofting a pair of scoring passes, the second of which came 25 seconds prior to intermission. Edwards’ 15-yard pass to Hans Batichon capped an 86-yard drive that put the Mountaineers up 21-7.

ASU’s long scoring drive just prior to intermission was set up when Eastern’s Dale Morris, who finished with 69 rushing yards and one touchdown on 16 carries, fumbled away a handoff from Nichols on the Mountaineers’ 2-yard line and D.J. Smith recovered on his own 14.

The Eagles also came up empty in the red zone on their second possession of the game when Lynch blocked Felipe Macias’ 46-yard field-goal try.

Edward completed all nine of his first-half pass attempts for 154 yards. His other touchdown toss, to Dexter Jackson, came from 41 yards out early in the second and gave ASU a 14-0 lead. The shifty 6-foot, 175-pounder also ran for 78 yards in the half and scored the game’s first touchdown on a 4-yard run midway through the opening period.

After spotting the Mountaineers a two-touchdown lead, Eastern started to get its offense untracked. The catalyst was an 82-yard kickoff by Nicholas Ramos that gave the Eagles a first down on ASU’s 14. They scored three plays later on a 7-yard pass from Nichols to Aaron Boyce to cut the Mountaineers’ lead to 14-7.

EWU was driving for the potential tying touchdown on its next possession when Morris and Nichols botched their handoff inside ASU’s 5.