Griz snatch one from Eagles
MISSOULA – Along with some limited success, Eastern Washington University has also experienced its share of misery and misfortunes against the University of Montana.
But the 24-23 kick-in-the-gut loss the Eagles suffered against the Grizzlies on Saturday will undoubtedly rank among the most painful in the history of this Big Sky Conference football series.
“It’s definitely a huge disappointment,” Eastern coach Paul Wulff admitted after watching Montana convert on a fourth-and-10 situation with less than two minutes left to set up Dan Carpenter’s game-winning field goal. “But this is a team that can still win a lot of games and stay in playoff contention, so we need to shake this one off.”
That won’t be easy, however, considering how cruelly this one played out.
Despite playing in front of a hostile sellout crowd of 23,226 in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, the Eagles (3-2, 2-2) outplayed the nation’s top-ranked Football Championship Subdivison team for three quarters. They not only picked apart Montana’s proud defense for 565 yards, but they also limited the Grizzlies’ high-octane offense to 289.
They somehow managed to take a 23-21 lead into the final minutes of the game, despite a season’s worth of mistakes that included 14 penalties, a couple of shanked punts and two lost fumbles.
Still, it was the Grizzlies who found the unlikeliest of ways to win, getting a 34-yard field goal from Carpenter with just 26 seconds remaining.
Carpenter’s game-winning kick came only after his teammate Ryan Bagley had rescued a Montana drive off life support by making a diving catch of an off-target fourth-down pass launched by quarterback Cole Bergquist.
“That’s one of the better catches I’ve ever seen,” Carpenter said in recalling Bagley’s clutch reception that covered 27 yards and set up a first down on Eastern’s 35-yard line.
Following their big fourth-down conversion, the Grizzlies marched to EWU’s 4 before turning things over to Carpenter, whose dramatic kick overshadowed Eastern’s splendid play on both sides of the football – and a career effort by the Eagles’ Aaron Boyce, who caught a school-record 17 passes for 232 yards and a touchdown.
With its running game sputtering against Montana’s experienced defense, Eastern relied heavily on the pass, and sophomore quarterback Matt Nichols responded by completing 37 of 59 throws for 451 yards and two touchdowns.
And even after a 44-yard field goal by Felipe Macias – which would have given the Eagles the lead midway through the fourth quarter – was wiped out by a delay-of-game penalty, Nichols led his team on one last scoring drive that resulted in a 39-yard Macias field goal and a 23-21 Eastern lead with just 2 minutes, 20 seconds left.
“He’s just progressing really nicely as a quarterback,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck said of Nichols, who benefited from some near-perfect protection. “He’s seeing things better than he did as a freshman a year ago and reading coverages a lot better.
“We haven’t had anybody move the ball like that on our defense in a long time, and they deserve a lot of credit for being able to do that.”
Not to be overlooked was an excellent performance by Eastern’s defense, as well.
Not only did the Eagles limit Montana’s running game to 108 yards, but they frustrated Bergquist with their relentless pressure and picked up a pair of sacks from junior end Greg Peach. In addition, they held the Grizzlies in a two short-field situations set up when Fritz Brayton shanked a pair of first-quarter punts.
“They had a lot put on their shoulders today,” defensive coordinator Jody Sears said of his defenders. “I was extremely proud of them. They played hard and executed the game plan we worked on.”
Eastern trailed by only 14-10 at intermission, despite committing a season’s worth of mistakes in a ratty first half that saw the Eagles survive a fumbled punt by Shane Eller that set up a Montana touchdown, Brayton’s two ghastly punts and 10 crippling penalties – including an offensive facemask call against tight end Tom McAndrews on a second-and-3 situation from the Grizzlies’ 5-yard line.
Following McAndrews’ penalty, sophomore tackle Chris Thomas was flagged for holding and the promising scoring drive fizzled out when Macias missed wide right on a 42-yard field-goal try.
Eastern recovered later in the half, however, when Nichols capped an eight-play, 80-yard scoring drive with a 21-yard pass to Brynsen Brown and then, following a botched kick return by the Grizzlies, led his team 15 yards in three plays to set up a 32-yard Macias field goal that ended the first half and cut Montana’s lead to 14-10.