Eastern scores high-octane victory over Montana State

Start fast, finish strong.

That’s the motto by which the Eastern Washington University football team marks each day, and game.

The start fast concept was never more evident than in the Eagles’ opening quarter of their home opener versus Montana State last Saturday where they raced to a 21-7 lead after one quarter and went to the locker room ahead 34-17.

The finish strong might need a little work, but in the end the Eagles did just that, getting a game-clinching interception with six seconds to play from freshman Nzuzi Webster to seal a wild 55-50 nonconference victory over the Bobcats before a soldout crowd of 10,912 at Roos Field.

What took place between the kickoff and Webster’s pick was nothing short of remarkable. If you thought you saw some high-powered offense in the past, Saturday had a little nitro-methane added.

Statistically as a team, Eastern had eight drives for touchdowns, none more than five plays and seven of the eight took less than two minutes.

“This is probably as extreme a game as I’ve ever been in in terms of that many short possessions and that many big plays,” head coach Beau Baldwin said at this past week’s coaches show. “We have that type of firepower.”

Eastern put up 667 yards of total offense, but Montana State did them one better with 718. The crazy thing was the Eagles did their damage in just 57 plays and 22 minutes with the ball.

The Bobcats, with remarkable quarterback Dakota Prukop at the controls held the ball 38 minutes, almost enough time to mount one of those Sam Houston comebacks. Between his running for 196 yards and passing for 353 more, he accounted for a mere 76 percent of the MSU yardage.

But the day belonged to Eastern quarterback Jordan West who set a school record for passing efficiency with a 313.5 rating, topping the previous mark of 310.4 set by Mark Tenneson back on Sept. 19, 1992.

West also completed 21 of 24 passing attempts for 410 yards and six touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Baldwin praised West for where and how he placed the balls he threw. “It was the different between catching it in stride and catching it on the back hip and going down,” Baldwin explained.

Baldwin even dusted off former St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner as a comparison. “That was one of the best things he did when they had all those big plays is he put the ball in places where they we just catching it in perfect stride.”

And of course what would an Eastern football game be with out the acrobatic catches and punishing play yards after the catch by Cooper Kupp. Listed as an uncertain starter following his suffering a hip pointer at Northern Iowa Sept. 12, Kupp caught 12 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns.

The list of superlatives for what Kupp accomplishes will probably need to start being recycled.

Mention Kupp’s name, as was the case in the post game press conference to West, “That’s all you gotta’ say,” West said. “It just seems any time you throw him the ball he’s going to come down with it.”

“Even being injured out there today, he was still making incredible plays,” West said.

The list of offensive performances was nearly as long as your arm with Jabari Wilson churning up a critical 188 yards on the ground in just 17 carries for an average of 11.1 yards for each touch, plus he scored twice — including one for 31 yards to open scoring after MSU failed to convert a fourth down in their own territory.

And sophomore Nic Sblendorio had three catches for 120 yards and one score that covered 78 yards and put Eastern ahead 21-7.

Next up for the Eagles is Sacramento State where former Eastern defensive coordinator Jody Sears is the head coach.

Baldwin cautioned not to expect the explosiveness the Eagles exhibited on Saturday, anytime soon, especially versus the Hornets.

Most head coaches are going to have a side of the football, and Sears is a defensive guy, Baldwin said.

“He’s going to hang his hat on playing great defense, he’s gong to hang his hat on a lot of times slowing the game down trying to get it into that defensive battle,” Baldwin said.

But those five yards and a cloud of SprintTurf rubber pellets will pay off Baldwin said, but the reward might just come a little more slowly.

“We have to appreciate a four of five yard gain on first down, we have to appreciate a short completion because eventually it will lead to a big play,” Baldwin believes.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].