Eastern dials things in head-to-head for first time in preseason
Eastern receiver Andrew Boston (9), outleaps defender Josh Lewis to make a catch in an Aug.15 practice.
There were victories on both sides of the ball, but 506 yards of offense stood out as the Eastern Washington University football team concluded its first two weeks of preseason practices with an 85-play scrimmage Saturday, Aug. 18 at Roos Field.
With preseason All-America quarterback Gage Gubrud leading the way, the Eagles completed 24 of 41 passes for 372 yards, with big plays through the air of 55, 42, 41 and 36 yards. The offense also had 134 rushing yards on 44 carries.
However, the defense held the offense scoreless in 13 of 16 possessions, with Gubrud engineering the only touchdown scoring drives of the day of 82 and 64 yards. Backup Eric Barriere led the offense on its other long scoring drive of the day of 70 yards, but that ended with just a field goal. Another 67-yard drive engineered by redshirt freshman Gunner Talkington ended with a missed field goal.
The defense ended three of the possessions with interceptions by redshirt freshman Keshaun King, redshirt freshman Mitchell Johnson and junior Andrew Katzenberger.
"Back and forth would be the first thing I noticed," head coach Aaron Best said. "There was some good on both ends, and I know that sounds like some coach cliché, but there really was."
Gubrud completed 8 of 14 passes for 124 yards and ran for another 13, while Barriere was 12 of 17 for 148 yards. Senior Zach Eagle led all receivers with five catches for 109 yards, including grabs of 55 and 24 yards. Senior Nsimba Webster had receptions of 42, 24 and 18 yards to finish with 84 yards on just three catches.
Other big grabs were recorded by redshirt freshman Marques Hampton Jr. (41 yards), true freshman Micah Mason (36), senior Terence Grady (23) and junior Dre' Sonte Dorton (20).
Senior Sam McPherson led the running game with 33 yards on just five carries and junior Tamarick Pierce was the workhorse with 39 yards on 10 rushes.
Backup defensive backs Anthany Smith and Tamir Hill led the defense with seven and six tackles, respectively, with Smith also breaking up a pass. Senior cornerback Josh Lewis had a pair of passes broken up.
"When the offense got it going the defense got a stop," Best said. "When the defense got a couple stops in a row the offense would turn it back on."
The next, and final scrimmage takes place Aug. 25 at Roos Field at approximately 2:30 p.m.
The Eagles open the season at home against Central Washington on Sept. 1. That game is followed by non-conference road tests at Northern Arizona on Sept. 8 and Washington State on Sept. 15.
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