No ‘post’ in this season

Eastern Washington University erased any lingering uncertainty about its postseason playoff possibilities Saturday afternoon by allowing Sacramento State to continue its love affair with Woodward Field.

The Eagles, well-rested and relatively healthy following their second bye week of the season, managed to make just enough mistakes – of both the mental and physical variety – to let the Hornets escape with a 15-13 Big Sky Conference victory that spoiled homecoming for the Eagles and the majority of the 4,814 fans in attendance on a dreary late-autumn afternoon.

The win, Sacramento State’s fourth in its last five visits to Cheney, not only snapped a three-game losing streak for the Hornets (4-5, 2-4 Big Sky), but thoroughly dashed any remaining hopes Eastern (3-5, 2-3) might have had of making it back to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

“It’s really disappointing, but they’re a good team,” Eagles defensive end Greg Peach said of the loss. “They were kind of in the same situation as us with just four games left, and they were going to come out and fight like us. And they we’re just the better team today.”

Sacramento State, behind the running of Jake Croxdale and Bryan Hillard, who combined for 168 yards on 42 carries, converted on eight of 19 third-down situations and dominated time of possession by almost 17 minutes in assuring that EWU’s first season under head coach Beau Baldwin will not last past the Eagles’ Nov. 22 regular-season finale against Weber State in Ogden, Utah.

Eastern, meanwhile, got a minus-31 yards from is its running game, coughed up the football three times, went 0 for 6 on third-down conversions and suffered another devastating lack of discipline on defense by committing a late-hit personal foul that let the Hornets escape a dire situation on their 2-yard line and march 98 yards for a 23-yard field goal that proved to be the difference.

Matt Nichols, the Eagles junior quarterback, finished with decent numbers, completing 29 of 43 passes for 363 yards that included a 15-yard fourth-quarter scoring toss to Brynsen Brown that sliced Sac’s lead to 15-13 with 10 minutes, 11 seconds left. But he also threw an end-zone interception on a first-and-goal situation from the Hornets’ 7-yard line just before intermission and fumbled away the football deep in his own territory to set up a three-play, 15-yard Sac State drive that culminated on a 12-yard scoring pass from Jason Smith to Tony Washington midway through the third period.

Nichols raced off the field following the game and refused to talk to the media, but Baldwin was quick to defend the Big Sky’s reigning offensive MVP.

“It’s one of those things where you can always go back, as a quarterback, and ask yourself, ‘Why did I make that throw?’ or wish you had a certain play back,” he said. “But those are single plays in the game, and you need to look at your offense, and team, as a whole.

“When you throw the ball as much as we were against a team that is good as stopping the run, you’re going to encounter a negative play here or there. You just have to find a way to bounce back from it and hope it’s not extremely negative.”

Sacramento State marched 80 yards on its opening possession, capping its long drive with a 2-yard run by Hilliard. And the Hornets continued to run the ball effectively throughout much of the first half against Eastern’s veteran defensive front and a linebacker corps bolstered by the return of Makai Borden, who had missed the previous three games with an ankle injury.

“We did enough on offense to move the ball and keep our defense fresh,” Hornets coach Marshall Sperbeck said. “We got good field position because we moved the ball, and that made a big difference, even though we struggled in the red zone.”

Peach and Baldwin both indicated Sacramento State’s early success in running the football was the result of some unique schemes employed by the Hornets.

“That was our big challenge this week, was to stop the run,” said Peach, who came into the game as the nation’s leader in sacks but failed to get to Sacramento State’s Smith. “They kind of changed it up on us a bit and were successful with their game plan.”

“They came out in some formations they really hadn’t shown much on film, so we made some adjustment on defense and were able to, then, do a decent job against them,” Baldwin said.

Despite its offensive struggles, Eastern had a chance to drive for a game-winning score in the final 2 minutes. But that chance was snuffed out when a Nichols pass bounced off the hands of tight end Nathan Overbay and was intercepted with just 80 seconds remaining.

The Eagles will be back in action Saturday against Big Sky rival Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., and Peach, a senior, expects nothing in the way of a letdown.

Montana 45, Northern Arizona 10: Chase Reynolds rushed for 157 yards and three touchdowns and Cole Bergquist passed for 186 yards and three more scores to lead the Grizzlies to a romp over the Lumberjacks in Missoula.

Weber State 31, Portland State 21: Trevyn Smith ran for 161 yards and a pair of touchdowns and the Wildcats jumped out to a 31-0 lead and held off the Vikings in Ogden, Utah.

Montana State 20, Northern Colorado 7: Kevin Retoriano returned an interception 64 yards for a touchdown with just more than a minute remaining to seal a win for the Bobcats over the Bears in Bozeman.

Cal Poly 49, Idaho State 10: Ryan Mole rushed for 140 yards and three TDs and Jordan Yocum ran for 116 yards and two scores to power the Mustangs over the Bengals in San Luis Obispo, Calif.