Offense, defense have their day

There's certainly plenty of power in the offense and lots of pop on defense that was on display in the annual Eastern Washington University Red-White football scrimmage, Saturday, April 23 at Roos Field.

The Eagle offense, led by sophomore Gage Gubrud and two other experienced quarterbacks fighting for the starting job, piled up 382 yards on 84 plays.

But while the offense scored 34 points, the defense had its share of big plays, with seven sacks, eight passes broken up and a pair of interceptions. One pick was returned for a 100-yard touchdown by sophomore Nzuzi Webster.

The performance by the offense included a 25 of 34 passing performance for 208 yards by Gubrud, who had passing attempts in just one game in 2015. Senior Jordan West, a nine-game starter last season, completed 9 of 12 passes for 69 yards. Sophomore Reilly Hennessey, who started the other two games, was 5 of 8 for 70 yards.

"There is no reason we couldn't win football games with any one of those three players," EWU head coach Beau Baldwin said. "I believe that, and I believed that last year, and now they are all a year older." 

All three quarterbacks had touchdown passes, but Gubrud led the offense on three long scoring drives of 67 yards in 16 plays, 70 on 12 plays and 66 with 10 plays.

With starters Cooper Kupp and Kendrick Bourne on the sidelines with minor injuries, receivers in waiting got their call. Fourteen players caught passes, including eight for 57 yards by sophomore Stu Stiles out of Mt. Spokane High School. Sophomore Simba Webster caught six passes for 63 yards and a 21-yard touchdown from Gubrud.

Sophomore Sam McPherson led Eastern's running backs with 22 yards and a touchdown, and Gubrud finished with 16 more.

Defensively, sophomore linebacker Alek Kacmarcik led the way with eight tackles, a sack, an interception and one other tackle for loss. Linebacker Kurt Calhoun also had eight stops.

Junior Nick Foerstel and freshman redshirt Jack Sendelbach each had a pair of sacks, and Nzuzi Webster had three other passes broken up besides his interception.

Baldwin was pleased how both sides of the ball responded during the scrimmage.

"There was picks being made in the red zone by the defense ending drives, but then the next time the offense might convert a fourth down or two and end up scoring on a drive," he said.

Eastern concludes spring practices today (April 28). The Eagles begin the 2016 season at Washington State on Sept. 3, and open its five-game home schedule on Sept. 17 versus Northern Iowa.