Eagles soar to 3-0 start
POCATELLO, Idaho – When Bryan Jarrett intercepted an errant Idaho State pass early in the first quarter, the Eastern Washington sideline exploded in celebration.
The senior defensive back set up Eastern Washington with ideal field position deep in the Bengals’ territory, and the Eagles had every right to jump around. But as it turned out, the Eagles’ reserves could have saved their energy. They were going to be celebrating big plays all afternoon.
EWU’s defense trotted off the field five times after forcing a turnover, and the Eagles crushed the Bengals 34-7 on Saturday at Holt Arena.
The conference-opening win vaulted Eastern to the top of the Big Sky standings, and gave the Eagles their first 3-0 start since 1997. Idaho State fell to 1-2 (0-1 Big Sky).
With the numerous Idaho State miscues, and a more than efficient midrange passing attack from EWU, the game was almost too easy. But Eagles coach Paul Wulff didn’t act like it was afterward.
“Going on the road anytime in this conference is tough,” Wulff said. “Anytime you go on the road and win by 27, you’ll take it.”
The game was as lopsided as the score indicated, but Wulff was glad the Eagles came up with so many takeaways, because his offense wasn’t clicking the way he had hoped.
The Eagles turned in an impressive statistical effort, ending with 418 total yards. But Wulff felt Eastern turned too many potential touchdowns into field goals.
“It helped, there’s no question,” he said of the turnovers. “It made a big difference in the game. We felt like we maybe left two or three touchdowns on the field in the first half. We had opportunities, but we didn’t capitalize on them a lot of the time. We weren’t as crisp as we’ve been.”
Although the Eagles missed an early field goal, couldn’t get into the end zone despite starting a possession at Idaho State’s 8-yard line and go-to running back Dale Morris was held to just 9 yards, the game was over by halftime.
EWU went on a scoring binge in the second quarter. The Eagles’ first touchdown came 22 seconds into the period, on a 38-yard run from Alexis Alexander. On the play, he met a wall near the line of scrimmage but cut back to the left and zigzagged his way into the end zone.
Felipe Macias kicked a 50-yard field goal 4 minutes later to give EWU a 13-0 lead, and Alexander scored on a 1-yard run with 6:22 left in the half to extend the lead to 20 points. That easy touchdown was set up by a 78-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Matt Nichols to sophomore wide receiver Tony Davis.
That combination proved to be potent all day. Nichols hit Davis for 150 yards, with several huge gains down the center of the field. Nichols ended the game with 285 passing yards
“We had a good game plan,” Nichols said. “We hurt them really bad with crossing patterns. They were getting pretty aggressive, and we just felt we had the talent to beat them over the top.”
That was evident on EWU’s final touchdown of the first half, when Nichols threw a beautiful pass into coverage and hit Aaron Boyce for a 27-yard touchdown to put the Eagles up 27-0.
The Eagles’ final score came with 5:21 remaining in the third quarter when Alexander scored from 3 yards out for his third touchdown of the day. He ended with 57 yards on the ground.
Idaho State rallied late to post a fourth-quarter touchdown, but every other time the Bengals threatened to score they either missed a field goal or EWU came up with a turnover. In addition to Jarrett’s early pick, Ira Jarmon intercepted an Idaho State pass, and Lonnie Hosley got his hands on two. Makai Borden also jumped on a fumble.
The interceptions forced the Bengals to switch quarterbacks just before halftime, from Russel Hill to Luke Butler. Idaho State coach John Zamberlin knew his team had shot itself in the foot too many times.
“We killed ourselves as far as mistakes,” Zamberlin said. “I told our team that the team that came out and made the fewest mistakes was going to win the game.”
On this day, that team was Eastern.