Eastern Washington holds off Portland State for first conference win
As the Eastern Washington defense took the field to protect a late lead on Saturday night, Myles Mayovsky turned to fellow linebacker Read Sunn and reflected on the moment.
“This is what we play for,” the redshirt junior Mayovsky said. “Two minutes left, up by eight. Let’s go win this thing.”
Facing a winless Portland State team, the Eagles made plenty of trouble for themselves during this year’s Homecoming football game.
But they also made big plays in key moments, none more significant than a sideline interception by Jaylon Jenkins on the sixth play of that final Portland State drive – an interception that sealed Eastern’s 35-27 victory in front of a Roos Field crowd of 6,003.
“All in all, Jaylon made a hell of a play,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said of the pick, which occurred a few feet in front of him. “… We accomplished what needed to be done.”
It was an up-and-down game for the Eagles, who improved to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in Big Sky play with the victory. Exhibit A was the play of redshirt sophomore Nate Bell, who got the start at quarterback and completed 10 of 18 passes for 95 yards and a score while also rushing 17 times for 175 yards and another touchdown.
But under duress for much of the game – Best estimated Bell was flushed from the pocket a dozen times – he threw an interception and fumbled twice, both at costly times. The first fumble came in the final minute of the second quarter and resulted in a Portland State field goal. The second fumble came about a yard from the end zone on the play before Eastern’s final defensive stand.
“We’ve got to grow immensely in the pass protection phase,” Best said. “Nate has got to have, or the quarterback has got to have, more time to operate. That’s got to get done.”
The Eagles were also outgained by eight yards, 469-461, and Portland State (0-6, 0-2) held the ball nearly 11 minutes longer than Eastern did.
And yet the Eagles found a way. On offense, it was largely because of big plays in their running game. Bell’s 45-yard touchdown run that opened the game’s scoring was one of the Eagles’ 12 rushing plays that gained at least 10 yards. Redshirt junior Marceese Yetts added a 37-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and redshirt freshman Kevin Allen III scored on a 50-yard run in the fourth.
That ground game helped ensure that the Eagles never trailed. Yetts finished with 79 yards on 13 carries and added two receptions for another 43 yards. Allen scored twice – including on an 8-yard run in the first quarter for his first collegiate touchdown – and finished with 79 yards on six carries. All that added up to a season-high 333 rushing yards for the Eagles.
“I think that’s a testament to my offensive line,” Allen said of the rushing performance. “We’re all growing and meshing together. It shows that we’re getting more comfortable with each other and knowing each other’s tendencies. … Those holes were wide open.”
Defensively, the Eagles held Portland State’s rushing game – which had gained more than 400 yards in each of the previous two games of this series – to 130 yards on 37 carries, and none of those went for more than 14 yards.
Sophomore quarterback John-Keawe Sagapolutele completed 28 of 45 passes for 302 yards and a touchdown, but in key spots the Eagles stopped him and the Vikings offense, which converted on 8 of 19 third downs and 2 of 4 fourth downs.
“I think we just had more focus when they started getting 20 and in, which sucks to say because we should have had it the whole time,” said Mayovsky, who finished with a career-high 11 tackles. “They threw some tricky stuff at us.”
Even though it wasn’t lovely, it was a gritty win – and a necessary one for the Eagles, who climbed ahead of the Vikings in the Dam Cup’s all-time series 23-22-1, and who are headed into a bye week before they host the rival Idaho Vandals on Oct. 18.
“We didn’t figure out the football world’s problems,” Best said. “We scored eight more points than the opponent and made it really difficult on ourselves, but we got the job done.”