Eastern has spring feeling
Most of the big plays during the Red-White Game were made by the starters, which was reflected in the 28-3 score, but that wasn’t the favorite topic of conversation as the Eastern Washington football team wrapped up four weeks of spring football practice Saturday afternoon.
“I think we came together,” sophomore quarterback Matt Nichols said. “Last year it was a big deal, kind of having separate teams, defense and offense. This year we’re coming together a lot better, everybody’s rooting for each other; everybody’s trying to make each other better.”
Nichols capped the spring by hitting 11 of 16 passes for 141 yards and touchdown passes to Aaron Boyce and Tony Davis, both sophomores. The White team of starters piled up 308 yards on 33 snaps, scoring on 4 of 6 possessions.
“This group we have is one of the tightest groups I’ve ever been part of,” junior defensive end Greg Peach said. “We’re all very close, there are no feuds or anything. I think we’ll keep it going.”
Peach had three of the seven sacks for the White team, which held the backups to 134 yards in 31 plays.
Head coach Paul Wulff was pleased with the play at Woodward Field on a sunny, breezy day, but even happier with the attitude.
“I thought our No. 1 offense and defense played exceptionally well today, but we also had kids playing well across the board,” he said. “We had a really crisp scrimmage and I’m really proud of how well we played.”
Davis scored the first touchdown with a run up the middle and a smart cut to the left, covering 36 yards. On the next possession, Nichols found Boyce all alone behind the defense for a 53-yard score.
However, freshman safety Ethen Robinson picked off an overthrown pass and returned it 24 yards. After Alex Smart connected with sophomore Nick Ramos for a 21-yard gain, freshman Matt Pierce capped the first half with a 36-yard field goal.
Nichols concluded his day with his third 70-yard scoring drive. Although the drive featured strong running by senior Toke Kefu, who had 57 yards on eight carries, the 10th play had Nichols rolling right and finding Davis in the back of the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown.
“I think we put a lot of things together today,” Nichols said. “Obviously, with four weeks of practice I think we were clicking a lot better today than we have all spring. It was definitely a lot better scrimmage than we had last week.”
Junior quarterback Alex Smart put together a good drive with the Red offense but after getting to the White 28, he was sacked on three of four plays, the last two by Peach.
His first series with the White he was unproductive but then produced a touchdown. The series started with a 35-yard gain by sophomore Jeffrey Solomon and ended with Smart hitting Solomon crossing over the middle that the speedster turned into a 21-yard score.
Smart was 10 of 18 for 102 yards but was sacked five times.
“Out of all our squads, I am most proud of our defensive line,” Wulff said. “Our defensive line has made a lot of improvements based on experience, compared to our lack of experience on the defensive line last year. Our defense as a whole has become more sound and made less mental mistakes, which is really encouraging.”
The Red had one other opportunity to score, after junior fullback Alexis Alexander ripped off a 58-yard run, but Pierce was short on a 42-yard field-goal try.
“Our spring practices went very well and in some cases they went even better than expected,” Wulff said. “Like any coach is going to say, we have a long ways to go, but we have made improvement. We always have concerns, just building depth at certain positions. I think we have some kids that are starting to step up and play better football. I think this team has a chance to make a lot of improvement from where we were a year ago. To what degree and how far, that’s what we play the season for but we are a much improved football team.”