Nichols carries Eagles to win

Almost to a man, college football coaches love to claim they prepare for only one game at a time.

But catch the right coach at the right moment and he might refreshingly admit there are certain games on the team’s schedule that get more preseason focus than others – which is exactly what Eastern Washington’s Beau Baldwin did following Saturday’s 45-31 win over Idaho State in the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams.

“We had a list of goals coming into the season, and I only named a few games on that list,” Baldwin said after watching his 11th-ranked Eagles (2-2 overall, 1-0 Big Sky) ride another sensational performance by junior quarterback Matt Nichols to victory in front of a Woodward Field crowd of 5,549.

“One of them was this game against Idaho State, because it’s so important to get off to that 1-0 start in league play. If you have any aspirations of winning a conference title down the road, you have to go one at a time. But if you drop that first one, you’re going to be in an uphill battle the rest of the way.”

The Eagles won’t have to worry about that – for a while, at least – thanks to the play of Nichols, who threw for 382 yards and five touchdowns – three of which went to junior wide receiver Aaron Boyce, who finished with 135 yards on nine catches.

The Nichols-to-Boyce combination was enough to offset another sluggish start by Eastern’s defense, which was suspect with its tackling early on and allowed Idaho State (0-4, 0-1) to enter the fourth quarter tied at 31.

ISU outgained the Eagles 210-139 in forging a 21-21 tie at the half. But 124 of the Bengals’ yards came on just two plays – a 53-yard shovel pass from quarterback Russel Hill to J.D. Ponciano that resulted in a touchdown, and a 71-yard TD throw from Hill to Jaron Taylor with only 19 seconds left in the first half.

That all changed in the second half, however, as Eastern’s defense, for the second week in a row, bared its fangs late in the game, holding Idaho State to minus-16 yards in the final quarter after Bengals wide receiver Isaiah Burel left the game late in the third period with a knee injury.

The loss of Burel, who caught five passes for 47 yards prior to getting hurt, coupled with the absence of the Big Sky’s leading receiver, Eddie Thompson, who was held out of the game because of a knee injury suffered in last week’s 38-35 loss to North Dakota, was simply too much for ISU’s offense to overcome.

Eastern seized the moment by scoring twice in the final period on a 61-yard pass from Nichols to Brynsen Brown and then a 15-yarder from Nichols to Alexis Alexander.

ISU coach John Zamberlin, whose Bengals have lost 10 straight games dating back to the 2007 season, felt the loss of Burel was a factor.

“That hurt us with the stuff we wanted to do late in the game,” he said. “With Eddie being out and Isaiah going down, it made it kind of tough. But Eastern made some plays there in the fourth quarter and we just didn’t get it done.”

Eagles senior defensive end Greg Peach tried to quash any thoughts that he and his teammates are trying to start some kind of trend by waiting until late in the second half to buck up and put the clamps on opposing offenses – which is what they did in last week’s 52-31 home win over Division II Western Washington.

“They just had three big plays in the first half, two on offense and one on defense,” said Peach, who had a hand in eight tackles, including three of EWU’s five sacks. “The first two, they had the right (offensive) call for our (defensive) call, and that’s just how it happened. I think our defense was consistent the whole game. It was just that they had some big first-half plays – give them credit for that.”

ISU’s big first-half defensive play came midway through the second period when Eagles wide receiver Tony Davis bobbled a short pass from Nichols, which was intercepted by Phillip Arias and returned 49 yards to set up Idaho State’s second touchdown.

“At halftime, I told the guys that we were the better team and that if we just came out and won the second half we’d be fine, Peach said. “And that’s what we did.”

Sophomore linebacker J.C. Sherritt led EWU’s defense with 12 tackles, and senior defensive end Jason Belford took advantage of teammate Lance Witherspoon’s big end-zone rush on Hill to pick off a pass and return it 7 yards for a second-quarter touchdown.

Afterward, Baldwin insisted he was never discouraged about his defense’s performance.

“That’s the thing about our guys, they’re just going to work and work and work,” he said. “We take pride in that if it’s tight in the fourth quarter, we’re going to win the fourth quarter. We take pride in just being relentless.

“Those guys up front set the tone for our defense, and for the second week in a row, they just kept coming.”

On offense, Eastern spent the first two quarters without the services of senior center Charlie Wulff, who was suspended for the first half after being ejected from the Sept. 20 game for taking a swing at a WWU player.

Nichols, who completed 26 of 40 passes and threw his only interception on the bobbled pass to Davis, survived a couple of dicey snaps from junior Sean Rock, Wulff’s first-half replacement, out of the Eagles’ shotgun set. Nichols admitted things seemed more normal once Wulff returned.

“I think it made a huge difference, because the center is kind of the quarterback of the O-line,” Nichols said. “Sean did a fantastic job in his first start of the year, and you couldn’t have asked him for more. But Charlie is kind of the anchor for us up front.”

Around the Big Sky

(17) Utah 37, Weber State 21: At Salt Lake City, Louie Sakoda kicked three field goals and four extra points to become the leading scorer in Utah history and the Utes (5-0) beat the Wildcats (3-2).

Montana 38, Central Washington 35: At Missoula, freshman Brody McKnight kicked a 42-yard field goal with one second remaining to lift the Grizzlies (4-0) to a victory over the Wildcats (4-1).

Montana State 37, South Dakota 18: At Bozeman, Demetrius Crawford and C.J. Palmer both ran for two touchdowns to lead the Bobcats (2-2) past the Coyotes (2-3).

Northern Arizona 25, Northern Colorado 22: At Greeley, Colo., Deonte Williams ran for 127 yards and two touchdown to lead the Lumberjacks (3-1, 1-0) past the Bears (0-3, 0-1).

Sacramento State 41, Portland State 31: At Sacramento, Calif., Bryan Hilliard rushed for 125 yards and scored two touchdowns as the Hornets (3-2, 1-1) defeated the Vikings (1-3, 0-1).