Difference maker: Eastern Washington kickoff returner Dre’Sonte Dorton

CEDAR CITY – Despite a second quarter otherwise dominated by Southern Utah, the halftime scoreboard showed Eastern Washington leading 21-15.

With 5 minutes, 23 seconds left in the half, Southern Utah had just scored its first touchdown of the game to cut Eastern’s lead to 14-8.

That margin stood up for all of 11 seconds – the time it took Dre’Sonte Dorton to go 96 yards and restore the Eagles’ two-score lead.

Taking the ball at the 4-yard-line on the right sideline, Dorton juked one defender, then turned on the jets and didn’t give anyone a chance to catch him.

“That gave us some momentum back,” Eastern coach Aaron Best said after the game.

Dorton, the Eagles’ primary kickoff returner, has 19 returns for 563 yards, an average of 29.6 yards.

Dorton, a redshirt sophomore from Pasco, also finished with two catches for 28 yards, giving him 164 on the season.

Earlier this year, Dorton had back-to-back games of at least 150 all-purpose yards at Fordham and Montana, including a 51-yarder at Montana to open the second half.

On Saturday, Dorton had a 30-yard return, but it was negated by a penalty.