Big second half nets Eagle win

"One play does not win or lose a football game" is a mantra that has woven its way through the fabric of Eastern Washington University football.

But two plays last Saturday certainly turned fortunes in the Eagles' favor as they rallied to win their Big Sky Conference opener in Missoula over the University of Montana 48-41.

Both teams are 2-2 overall, Eastern with two straight leading into Saturday's Hall of Fame Day meeting with Sacramento State, 1:35 p.m. at Roos Field.

In front of a sellout crowd of 25,944 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Eastern used a pair of scores just 27 seconds apart as time wound down in the third quarter to tie the game 27-27, outscoring Montana 21-3 coming out of the locker room at halftime. They continued the binge with a fourth quarter that they won 21-14 with the final Grizzly score coming in the last minute.

This, after seeing a potentially deflating Montana score on a Hail Mary pass from quarterback Gresch Jensen to Justin Calhoun as time expired in the second quarter.

"We talked about everybody kinda wants the last play to go away," Eagles' head coach Aaron Best said. "We did not want that one play to beat us the next two quarters."

After seeing a number of scoring opportunities slip away in the first half and result in field goals, -the Eagles got the points they needed to jump-start things with the first of two Sam McPherson touchdowns on their initial possession of the third quarter.

"That was big because after you give up one that late in the half, those are tough things to come around from," Best said.

Quarterback Gage Gubrud broke his own school record with a 549-yard passing performance with four touchdown passes and one on the ground. Gubrud's 560 yards of offense were also a record, as he eclipsed his own previous records of 520 passing and 551 total yards.

One of those scores came on a 32-yard pass to Dre' Sonte Dorton with 1 minute, 24 seconds remaining in the third. The next was swift as Josh Lewis picked Jensen at midfield on the Grizzlies' first play of the following series.

One play later, Gubrud found McPherson in the right flat, made a short toss and let him weave his way across the field where he raced down the Eagles' sideline for 50 yards. It was not only the tying score but a defined shift in the game's momentum.

"That touchdown to Dre (Dorton) was a big one for sure," Gubrud said. "I felt momentum swing when we tied it up."

After giving up a touchdown, and the lead 34-27, 2:55 into the fourth, Eastern scored the next three times they had the ball and in just slightly over seven minutes. Gubrud scored on a keeper from the 2-yard line with 9:37 to play, Nick Sblendorio on a short 3-yard pass at 6:53 and Antoine Custer capped it on his 10-yard run with 2:12 that quickly emptied the grandstands.

Sblendorio led his team with 18 catches and a career-high 189 yards.

Eastern's defense came up big in all three Montana possessions that preceded the scores, first forcing a punt and then a pair of turnovers on downs as a desperate UM head coach Bob Stitt gambled but lost the dice roll.

While giving up some big numbers, 538 total yards, they allowed just 231 second-half yards while allowing 17 points. "We played lights out on defense in the second half," Best said.

In their last six trips to Missoula, Eastern now has won three, but overall has seen little success historically against Montana on the road.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].