Calin Criner looks for running room after his interception last Saturday in Eastern Washington's final scrimmage prior to their season opener Saturday against Central Washington at Roos Field.
The defense set the tone early, and eventually held the offensive unit to 269 yards and just a pair of scores as the Eastern Washington University football team concluded preseason practices with a 57-play scrimmage Saturday, Aug. 25 at Roos Field.
The offense managed just 42 yards on its first 20 plays, and the defense was solid after that in holding the offense to an average of 4.7 yards per play. The defense had interceptions by senior linebacker Ketner Kupp and sophomore safety Calin Criner, and the offense had just two scores in 14 possessions.
"The defense was ball-hawking, and those guys came to play," head coach Aaron Best said.
Preseason All-America quarterback Gage Gubrud played just one series that ended in downs, so the majority of snaps at quarterback went to sophomore backup Eric Barriere and redshirt freshman Gunner Talkington. Barriere complete 6 of 11 passes for 54 yards, and Talkington was 8 of 11 for 115 yards. Each had an interception as EWU's five quarterbacks combined to complete 17 of 28 passes for 185 yards.
After five scoreless possessions in the scrimmage, Talkington got the offense untracked by guiding a five-play, 56-yard drive that ended with plays of 14, 25, 7 and 9 yards. He capped the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run, then later in the scrimmage hit junior Dre' Sonte Dorton for a 52-yard TD pass.
Junior linebacker Andrew Katzenberger, sophomore linebacker Chris Ojoh and true freshman safety Tre Weed each had four tackles for the defense. Sacks were recorded by senior Dylan Ledbetter, sophomore Keith Moore, senior Nick Foerstel and junior Darnell Hogan.
"The take away is that we came out really healthy," Best said. "We sat a few guys today, and we always will, because some guys have earned that right or are not 100 percent yet. We want them to go 100 percent next week."
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