Eastern starts slow, finishes strong

It took a while, but once the Eastern Washington University offense finally pried the ball away from the University of California-Davis to start the second half, the Eagles cruised to a 37-14 Big Sky Conference football victory last Saturday in Davis, Calif.

Throughout the first half of the game at Aggies' Stadium, it was ball control that helped UCD stay with Eastern. The Aggies had four possessions that gave them the ball for over 16 of the opening 30 minutes, but that accounted for just seven points.

"Davis can do that to any high-powered or fast offense - they'll frustrate you by the way they play," EWU head coach Beau Baldwin said. "All it takes is for them to get a couple of big plays on defense, and then grind out the clock. The next thing you know you're in a close game in the fourth quarter."

But once Eastern, 1-0 in Big Sky and 4-1 overall, touched the ball to open the second half, it took the Eagles just 49 seconds to score on a 61-yard connection between quarterback Vernon Adams and Cooper Kupp, who led Eastern with seven catches for 94 yards.

The Eagles would go on to put a total of 21 points on the scoreboard in the third quarter and distance themselves from the Aggies (0-1,1-3) once and for all. Adams scored on a 4-yard run with 7:09 to play in the third and Mario Brown from six yards out with 15 seconds to play for a 30-7 lead. Brown, starting in place of injured starter Quincy Forte, rushed for 84 yards on 12 carries.

In contrast to the first half, UCD had seven possessions over the game's final 30 minutes using just 7 minutes and change. Five of those finished with punts and two in turnovers, one a fumble forced by Eastern's Colton Silveria and recovered by Zackary Johnson, the other a Jake Gall interception. Of the Aggies 10 first downs in the game, they had just one in the second half.

Eastern took a slim 9-7 lead to the locker room at the half on a Jabari Wilson 5-yard touchdown in their first possession. New kicker Tyler McNannay missed his first extra-point, but did connect on a 27-yard field goal with 2:16 remaining in the first half.

The Aggies missed on a 34-yard field goal attempt on their first possession, 6:10 into the game and they took their one and only lead, 7-6, on Luuga Manusamoa 2-yard run with 11:22 remaining in the second quarter.

After Eastern's quick Kupp touchdown to open the second half, Davis went three and out, setting up Adam's score. Two more UCD drives went nowhere and Eastern took advantage with Brown's score.

UCD found their own lightning in a bottle following Brown's touchdown when quarterback London Lacy hit Keelan Doss for a one-play, 70-yard play that trimmed the EWU lead to 30-14 as the third quarter expired.

Johnson's fumble recovery one possession later set up Eastern's final score, an Adams to Blair Bomber 40-yard play with 10:14 to play.

Adams finished the game 23 of 28 passing for 298 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 95 in his career, one shy of the team record set by Matt Nichols and three behind Cameron Higgins of Weber State.

Eastern out-gained UC Davis in total offense 475-260 as the Eagles were the lone road team in the conference to win a game last week. Defensively, linebacker Cody McCarthy had a team-high eight tackles.

The victory extended Eastern's league winning streak to 11 games as they prepare to face Idaho State Saturday, 1:35 p.m. at Roos Field in the annual Hall of Fame game. The Bengals (1-0, 2-2) are coached by former EWU coach Mike Kramer and are coming off a 44-24 win at home against Sacramento State last Saturday.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].