Eastern Washington’s spring football scrimmages were never meant to be a best 2 out of 3 series, but that’s the way it will shake out this year.
Following the Eagles’ offense dominating performance in last Saturday’s second scrimmage of spring camp, one where the EWU offense rolled up 550 yards, bragging rights for respective sides of the ball will be determined in Saturday’s Red-White scrimmage at Roos Field beginning at 2 p.m. Defense dominated the first inter-squad meeting on April 11.
Four Eagle quarterbacks combined for 32 of 47 passing for 309 yards and added 241 more on the ground. In the first scrimmage, the defense held the offense to 123 yards and one touchdown on 40 plays.
“I think they did a great job,” Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin said of his team’s offensive improvement. “You just saw an operation that looks better, and that is a word that I keep using – operation.”
This week, the No. 1 offense started the scrimmage with trickery, a 65-yard reverse for a touchdown by Shaq Hill. Then starting quarterback Jordan West led a seven-play, 65-yard drive on the very next possession for the No. 1 offense, culminated by a 27-yard Ashanti Kindle run. West completed 8 of 11 passes for 105 yards.
Keonte White intercepted Gubrud’s first pass, but once again redshirt freshman quarterback Gage Gubrud finished with impressive numbers, completing 10 of 13 passes for 117 yards. Gubrud added another 51 yards rushing, including a touchdown. Gubrud also threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp.
Eastern’s third quarterback, redshirt freshman Conner Richardson, had an 8-yard scoring pass to Kendrick Bourne and Simba Webster caught a 6-yard scoring pass from fellow redshirt Reilly Hennessey.
Redshirt freshman Ashanti Kindle led the ground attack with 11 rushes for 76 yards and a 27-yard TD run.
Saturday’s scrimmage included more game-like situations, a preview of the Red-White game.
“There was a lot of good stuff, and I love getting into the situations we were able to cover,” Baldwin said. “I love getting into red zone, coming out of our own end zone, two-minute drill, four-minute drill with the lead – I think this is one of my favorite scrimmages.”
Besides White’s interception, the defense forced two turnovers on fumbles. Redshirt freshman linebacker Kurt Calhoun had 10 tackles on the day, and Kody Beckering and Mac McLachlan each had seven. Beckering also had a sack and pass broken up.
The Red-White game will be broadcast live on SWX, with Larry Weir providing the play-by-play.
Saturday’s football finale also helps conclude Eagle Week and a variety of activities, including the 28th annual Coaches Golf Tournament, Friday, April 24 and 34th annual Killin Dinner, Dance and Auction Saturday in the EWU Sports and Recreation Center.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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