Progress shows in Eastern victory

Eastern Washington University won a football game on Saturday night that it probably would not have won last fall.

And it was Eagles coach Paul Wulff who was the first to admit as much after watching his team overcome an early eight-point deficit and a perplexing first-quarter offensive lull to outlast the University of California, Davis 41-31 in front of a Woodward Field crowd of 4,178.

“No question. We wouldn’t have won it,” Wulff said when asked if last year’s young team would have fared as well. “But tonight, we fought back from that early deficit, made some big plays when we needed to make them and got it done.

“We’ve got to build on this.”

Heroes, in this instance, were easy to find.

From the running back tandem of Dale Morris and Alexis Alexander, which accounted for 309 rushing yards and four touchdowns, to cornerbacks Kevin Hatch and Lonnie Hosley, who both came up with key interceptions, to punter Fritz Brayton, who averaged 41.9 yards per kick and kept UC Davis (1-2) pinned in its own territory most of the night, the Eagles (2-0) got contributions from a vast number of players.

The oft-injured Morris ran for 86 yards and three touchdowns, while Alexander rushed for 123 yards and another score. Sophomore quarterback Matt Nichols completed 25 of 42 passes for 252 yards and two more TDs, and once against avoided the dreaded interception that plagued him as a freshman. Eastern’s defense, despite giving up 517 total yards, limited damages on the scoreboard and came up with a crucial fourth-quarter goal-line stand that was capped by Hosley’s juggling interception.

The Eagles, who had not played in 14 days, showed some signs early of rust, especially on offense, but managed to put together several long scoring drives.

Wulff seemed particularly pleased with his team’s running game and how his offensive line was able to pick up an assortment of blitzes, stunts and loops.

“They have one of the toughest teams to run the ball (against) in the country,” he said of the Aggies, who were coming off an impressive 26-17 road win over Portland State last weekend. “But we kept slugging at them and slugging at them, and, eventually, we popped some runs on them.

“I thought our offensive line did a good job, considering the schemes they run.”

Nichols took it a step further, calling the play of his offensive line “amazing.”

And he stepped up and took the majority of blame for some of his team’s struggles following an early scoring drive. The Eagles had gone 82 yards for a touchdown on their first possession of the game

“We had a few miscues between me and my receivers – mainly me,” Nichols said, when asked of Eastern’s offensive futility during the opening period. “I didn’t come out and play the way I could have in the first half, but I cleaned some things up at halftime. That second half we kept pushing and fighting, and every time they came up with a score, we knew we had to come back with one of our own, and we did.”

Eastern added to its meager 20-17 halftime lead late in the third period when Hatch picked off a Tim Plough pass that gave the Eagles a first down on the Aggies’ 32-yard line. Nichols found Brynsen Brown with a touchdown pass on the very next play, but UC Davis answered early in the fourth quarter with a 25-yard scoring pass from Plough to Kale Turner.

Nichols later hit Tom McAndrews with a 6-yard TD toss to stretch Eastern’s lead to 34-24 with 9:57 left. Hosely cemented the victory with his big pick on the Aggies’ next possession.

“The kids stepped up,” Wulff said of that crucial goal-line stand. “You think about it, they have first-and-goal at the 3, but we had two stops and then the interception. It was a great stand for our defense.”

Wulff also praised the running of Morris, who scored for the first time in almost two years, and Alexander, who touched the ball only once in the Eagles’ season opening 52-13 rout of Montana-Western

“Dale’s a good player,” Wulff said, of the 5-foot-9, 205-pound junior. “Unfortunately, he’s missed a lot of football, but, hopefully, the Good Lord will look after him now and give him an opportunity to play.”

Eastern will open Big Sky Conference play on the road next Saturday, when they take on Idaho State in Pocatello, Idaho.