Finish two-game road trip with last-second win at UNC
The bulk of their travel is behind them in the rearview mirror so now the Eastern Washington University football will try keep momentum gained from two straight road victories playing three out of their final four regular season games at Roos Field.
The Eagles’ latest victory was a certain heart-stopper, 43-41 as Jordan Dascalo kicked a 44-yard field goal with no time remaining to rally the Eagles past Northern Colorado in Greeley.
“Ultimately it took us to go down and make a big field goal by Dascalo,” EWU head coach Beau Baldwin said. ”When he hit it there was never a doubt.”
Descalo’s heroics briefly took some of the spotlight away from yet another record-setting afternoon by Cooper Kupp. Earlier, Kupp became the league’s all-time leader in receptions and reception yards.
The Eagles rallied from deficits five times, and needed a nine-play, 49-yard drive that took 1:19 off the clock to set-up Dascalo’s game-winning kick. Normally EWU’s punter, Dascalo had to take on kicking duties recently as an injury replacement.
Kupp finished with school records of 20 catches and 275 yards, and also scored three touchdowns. That brought his career totals to 281 receptions, 4,338 yards and 52 touchdowns.
A pair of second quarter grabs broke the previous league receptions record of 268 held by Kasey Dunn of Idaho (1988-91). A 19-yard reception during a last-minute touchdown drive in the second quarter surpassed the previous league record of 4,140 yards held by EWU’s Eric Kimble (2002-05).
At 4-0 in Big Sky Conference play and 5-2 overall, the No. 5 ranked Eagles meet Weber State (3-2 BSC, 4-4 overall) at sold out Roos Field for a 12:10 p.m. kickoff and try to keep on track to win a fourth consecutive league title.
They face a Weber State team that was 2-10 a year ago but has pulled off a shocker with a 24-21 win at Missoula against Montana, followed by a 25-24 win at home against North Dakota.
“They’ve got good talent,” Baldwin said at this week’s EWU Coaches Show, specifically their 6-foot, 3-inch quarterback Jadrian Clark, a read-option guy. “He has some skill guys to throw to,” Baldwin added.
Eastern has won 21 of its last 22 league games, and have been victorious in 18-straight regular season home games.
The Eagles remain at home for a Nov. 7 outing versus Northern Arizona, then travel to Missoula to face Montana, Nov. 14 before wrapping up the regular season Nov. 21 versus Portland State.
No. 5 Eastern Washington University versus Weber State University
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, 12:10 p.m. Roos Field (8,600).
TV: ROOT Sports. Webcast: http://www.watchbigsky.com.Radio: 700-AM ESPN in Spokane. Larry Weir returns for his 25th season calling the play-by-play, with analysis handled by Paul Sorenson. Broadcasts begin one hour prior to kickoff and include an expanded post-game show.
Internet Radio: http://www.700espn.com or http://www.tunein.com.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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