Hubel shreds EWU’s pass defense

PORTLAND – There was a little fear from Eastern Washington’s camp that the real Portland State offense had yet to show up this season.

Well, it did Saturday at PGE Park. It showed up and ran the No. 11-ranked Eagles clear back to Cheney.

Portland State broke two school passing records and tied two others as quarterback Drew Hubel lit up Eastern’s defense for 623 passing yards in leading the Vikings to a 47-36 football win over the Eagles.

Hubel set a Big Sky Conference and PSU record with 73 passing attempts, and tied the school record for completions with 44. Hubel’s 623 passing yards, a PSU record, missed the Big Sky standard by a yard.

Hubel wasn’t the only Viking to land in the record book. Junior Mario D’Ambrosio, one of four PSU receivers with more than 100 yards in receptions, caught 16 passes to tie a school record.

This was a Vikings team (2-3, 1-1) with one win prior to Saturday – over Division II Western Oregon.

“They are a streaky team,” Eastern quarterback Matt Nichols said. “They can be the best team in the nation one week, and not play so well the next.”

The loss for Eastern Washington (2-3, 1-1) took much of the luster off next week’s anticipated Big Sky Conference showdown against Montana at Woodward Field. With Montana (4-1, 1-1) losing Saturday to Weber State 45-28, it’s suddenly survival, not a championship chase, for both teams.

One good thing for Eastern Washington: Montana won’t test the Eagles’ pass defense quite like the air-it-out Vikings.

Portland State needed only two plays to damage Eastern’s pass defense – the worst statistically in the Big Sky – when Hubel connected with Daniel Wolverton on a 76-yarder. By halftime, Hubel had passed for 349 yards and three touchdowns, all to D’Ambrosio, who grabbed 11 balls during the first half.

Hubel nearly matched his production during the second half, even after Eastern had a halftime break to make adjustments. Hubel completed 22 passes and threw for nearly 300 yards during the second half.

Hubel’s day overshadowed what would normally be considered a terrific day by Nichols, who completed 34 of 55 passes for 418 yards and two touchdowns.

Where does the blame lie in Eastern’s meltdown in Portland? Spread it around, said the Eagles.

Free safety Kevin Hatch said the Vikings didn’t surprise Eastern’s defense. The Eagles just weren’t up to the challenge.

“We were there, but we just didn’t make the plays,” Hatch said.

EWU head coach Beau Baldwin thought Eastern Washington’s stagnant offense during the first half was an issue. Other than a 4-minute spurt midway through the half when Eastern scored its 14 first-half points, the Eagles struggled to sustain drives. They gave Portland State’s offense eight possessions during the opening half, which the Vikings turned into five scores and a 27-14 halftime lead.

“We didn’t get in a good rhythm in the first half, and that put us in a hole,” Baldwin said.

Despite all of Eastern Washington’s problems, the Eagles had a chance to at least force overtime. Down 37-29 with 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Nichols drove the Eagles to the PSU 29, where Aaron Boyce caught a pass, only to have it stripped by Portland State’s Aaron Dickson.

The Vikings quickly converted the fumble into a touchdown, all but sealing the win.

“We knew Portland State is a team that tries to rip the ball out any time they can,” Nichols said.

The Vikings are also a team that has Eastern Washington’s number. PSU won for the third consecutive year over the Eagles.

“It seems like they’re always taking it to us,” Hatch said. “What it comes back to is they’re always throwing the first punch.”

Around the conference

Weber St. 45, Montana 28: At Ogden, Utah, Cameron Higgins overcame a bad first quarter and threw for 237 yards and four touchdowns as the Wildcats defeated the Football Championship Subdivision No. 3 Grizzlies for Weber State’s first win over Montana in 10 years.

Trevyn Smith led the way on the ground for Weber State (4-2, 2-0) with 158 yards on 22 carries and one touchdown. He also had four catches for 54 yards and a touchdown.

Cole Bergquist was 14 of 26 for 273 yards and two touchdowns for the Grizzlies (4-1, 0-1) who had their 25-game regular-season winning streak come to an end.

Montana St. 33, Idaho St. 21: At Pocatello, Idaho, Demetrius Crawford led the way with 24 carries for 90 yards and a touchdown as the Bobcats beat the Bengals.

The loss dropped Idaho State to 0-5 (0-2 Big Sky), despite quarterback Russel Hill going 32 of 49 for 350 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.

The Bengals scored first on Ken Cornist’s 7-yard run. But the lead was short-lived as Montana State (3-2, 1-0) responded with 21 unanswered points.

N. Arizona 42, Sacramento St. 10: At Flagstaff, Ariz., Lance Kriesien threw for 256 yards and two touchdowns as the Lumberjacks beat the Hornets for their fourth consecutive victory.

Northern Arizona (4-1, 2-0) is off to its best start since 2003 when it went 9-4 and won the conference championship.

Sacramento State (3-3, 1-2) was led by Duncan White, who was 15 of 31 for 253 yards including a 53-yard touchdown pass to Tony Washington.

UC Davis 34, N. Colorado 30: At Davis, Calif., junior wide receiver Bakari Grant caught a 38-yard Hail Mary touchdown with no time left on the clock in the fourth quarter to give the Aggies (2-4) a non-conference victory over the winless Bears (0-4).

Northern Colorado has lost seven straight.