Eastern Washington falls at Northern Iowa

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — A lot of factors went into Eastern Washington’s confounding 38-35 loss Saturday at Northern Iowa. Injuries, missed tackles, awful field position, a mountain of penalties and finally a pair of crucial errors by two veterans combined to send the Eagles to 0-2 for the first time in four years. “We have to clean a lot of things up. There are a lot of little things in all areas – from a coaching aspect, from a playing aspect and from a discipline aspect,” coach Beau Baldwin said after the game, the Eagles’ sixth loss to Northern Iowa in as many tries. “We’ve got to own what we are right now,” Baldwin said. Trailing 31-28 with 5 minutes, 40 seconds to play in a see-saw game, Eastern quarterback Jordan West broke free for a 66-yard run to the UNI 17-yard line – only to have the gain nullified by a holding penalty. On the next play, West overthrew a sideline pass that Panther cornerback DeAndre Hall intercepted and returned 16 yards for a score. That gave UNI a 38-28 lead and seemingly put the game out of reach. Unfazed, West drove the Eagles 77 yards in five plays to cut the margin to three. Eastern forced UNI into a third-and-4 situation at its own 40 with just over two minutes left, but junior linebacker Miquiyah Zamora committed an offsides penalty. That gave UNI a crucial first down, and the Panthers ran out the clock to keep Eastern winless.The game included half a season’s worth of highs and lows for the Eagles:

• Wide receiver Cooper Kupp had nine catches for 179 yards and two touchdowns, but suffered a hip pointer and didn’t play in the second half. Several other players were injured in the course of the game, but like Kupp, their status is uncertain;
• Quarterbacks West and Reilly Hennessey combined for a school-record 526 yards, but the Eagles were held to 26 yards rushing in 25 attempts.
• Special teams were outplayed in almost every category: Eastern’s first eight drives began inside its 20-yard line, while the Eagles averaged just 33.8 yards a punt compared with 44.0 for UNI.

And then there were the penalties – 15 of them for 159 yards. “We have to clean up our technique and any other reasons we are getting penalties,” Baldwin said “Or play smarter – whatever it might be, we have to do it.” The game started well enough, with the defense forcing a trio of three-and-outs while Kupp gave EWU a 7-0 lead on an 18-yard pass from West. EWU still led 14-7 after a 73-yard catch and run by Kupp, but UNI quarterback Aaron Bailey and the Panther ground game began to get untracked. The Panthers, who finished with 286 rushing yards, led 21-14 at intermission. Midway through the third quarter, Hennessey tied the game on a 6-yard TD pass to Kendrick Bourne, but left with a leg injury suffered on the same play. After a three-and-out by UNI, the Eagles regained the lead on another West-to-Bourne TD, this time for 7 yards. Trailing 28-21 with 12:25 left in the game, backup quarterback Sawyer Kollmorgen drove UNI for a tying TD. The Panthers got the ball back immediately, and responded with a go-ahead 24-yard field goal with 2:38 left. Seconds later, West threw his costly pick. The win improved UNI to 1-1, while winless EWU must regroup to play Montana State on Sept. 19 in Cheney. EWU receiver Nic Sblendorio had career highs of 10 receptions and 158 yards.