Eagles get scores from offense, defense, special teams in win
The University of North Dakota had to try everything to stop Eastern Eagle players like Kendrick Bourne. Not much worked as Eastern won easily, 54-3.
North Dakota, the team without a nickname, also came to Cheney and Roos Field without any answers, too.
UND could not contend with a relentless Eastern Washington defense nor a potent offense as the Eagles rolled to a 54-3 Big Sky Conference football victory last Saturday making the soggy Homecoming crowd of 9,212 happy by sending most home early.
"We had everyone in Spokane wanting to walk off a ledge with the first Big Sky loss," Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin said. "Our players revealed a lot of character with how they responded."
A week earlier in Flagstaff, Ariz., Eastern saw its 14-game conference winning streak come to an end in a 28-27 last minute loss to Northern Arizona.
Eastern's 51-point margin of victory was the largest in their 27 years of Big Sky play. It was the result of an offense that produced points on six of seven first-half possessions. The Eagles' defense forced the visitors into three punts, two interceptions and allowed just 78 yards in the first six UND possessions.
Eastern, 5-1 in conference play and 8-2 overall, takes a share of the conference lead into Saturday's visit and 12:10 p.m. kickoff at sold out Roos Field against the University of Montana.
After a slow start where their first drive chewed up 7 minutes, 12 seconds of clock before Quincy Forte scored from the 3 for a 7-0 EWU lead, the Eagles got more efficient.
The next five North Dakota (1-4 Big Sky, 3-6 overall) drives netted a grand total of just 23 yards and included a punt that led to an EWU field goal by Tyler McNannay, an interception that set up a Cooper Kupp touchdown and a punt that led to Forte's second score and a 24-0 lead with 6:14 to play in the first half. Kupp led all EWU receivers with nine catches for 111 yards and a score.
Just three plays after getting the ball back, the Eagles' Moe Roberts stepped in front of a Keaton Studsrud pass and returned it 26 yards for a 31-0 EWU lead with 4:14 to play.
North Dakota got past midfield for the first and only time in the game late in the first half, settling for a 38-yard Reid Taubenheim field goal with 1:35 left making it 31-3.
Eastern replied almost immediately, going 81 yards in 1:32 with quarterback Jordan West connecting with Shaq Hill with 3 seconds to play in the half for a 38-3 Eagles' lead. West would finish the afternoon completing 24 of 37 passes for 314 yards and a pair of touchdowns as he started for the fourth time in place of injured Vernon Adams.
"I thought (Jordan) played really good," Baldwin said. "He was well-timed with his aggression."
McNanny kicked his second field goal, this one from 36 yards, with 2:57 remaining in the third quarter for a 41-3 lead. A score from Cody "The Leaper" Hecker on a 23-yard run with 12:35 to play in the game was followed by Jordan Talley's fumble recovery in the end zone on the ensuing kickoff, making it 54-3 and concluded scoring.
Saturday's was the 200th game at 48-year-old Roos - formerly Woodward - Field. The stadium was built in 1967 and Eastern has a 141-59 won-lost record there.
Eastern's defense had three interceptions and besides Roberts, others came from Miquiyah Zamora and Todd Raynes. Cody McCarthy and Zamora shared the lead in tackles with eight. Ronnie Hamiln, who is chasing J.C. Sherritt's all-time school tackle record of 432, closed to within one of tying the mark.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
Reader Comments(0)