Eastern rolls over Cal Poly at Roos

CHENEY - It was a great day to wear Eastern Washington red; it was not at all a good day for a group of Cal Poly coaches who once wore those colors.

Jump started by scoring four first-quarter touchdowns and using just 3 minutes, 59 seconds off the clock to do so, the Eagles performed their own stampede on the way to a 62-10 victory over the Beau Baldwin-led Mustangs at sunny Roos Field.

Along with Baldwin, who spent nine seasons as Eastern's head coach (2008-2016) and four as an EWU assistant (2003-06) the four members of his staff who have past connections to EWU are Paul Wulff, Erik Meyer, J.C. Sherritt and Nicholas Edwards. 

Eastern (3-1) led 28-7 after the opening quarter and 45-7 at the half over Cal Poly (0-3), which not long after the game pulled the plug on its COVID-complicated winter/spring Big Sky season. Cal Poly had two previous games postponed by COVID protocols and was not able to field the league's minimum roster.

"Our guys came out and flat-out played relentless from the first snap of the game," Eastern head coach Aaron Best said. "We went down and scored on our first two possessions on offense, and scored a defensive touchdown too. When you can get up in a game early, it creates momentum – especially when the defense gets stops and the offense scores points."

Junior quarterback Gunner Talkington got the surprise start and was 6-of-9 for 132 yards and a pair of TDs, including Eastern's first, a 12-yard strike to Freddie Roberson with just 1 minute, 39 seconds gone.

Eastern's usual starter, Eric Barriere, took over on the second Eagles' possession and, as almost in a race, let Tamarick Pierce finish things with a 44-yard run and a 14-0 lead. It capped a four-play drive that consumed just 1:42.

The winner of the impromptu scoring drive competition, however, went to defensive end Mitchell Johnson who had an interception and pick-six that took just the time he needed to return the ball 34 yards for a touchdown to give EWU its 21-0 lead.

Hunter Raquet hit Lepi Lataimua for 5 yards with 4:32 to go in the opening quarter for the Mustangs' lone touchdown and a 21-7 game.

Barriere had 246 yards in the first half alone, and for the game was 23-of-33 for 284 yards and three touchdowns as he later found Dennis Merritt, Efton Chism III and Dylan Ingram for scores for a 42-7 EWU lead. Merritt's score came on a recovery of a fumbled pass completion into the end zone from Barriere to Andrew Boston. 

Seth Harrison then booted the third longest field goal in program history, a 55-yarder, that capped scoring and gave Eastern a 45-7 lead at halftime. Another Harrison field goal in the third pushed the margin to 48-7 at 9:41 on the third.

Pierce scored his second Talkington connected on Eastern's final TD, an 18-yarder to Michael Taras with 2:43 to play. That came after CP added a 39-yard Colton Theaker field goal.

Talolo Limu-Jones had seven receptions for a career-high 147 yards. Pierce rushed for 80 yards as Eastern finished with 267 yards on the ground.

Cheney's Ty Graham and Arizona State transfer Ely Doyle each had nine tackles for the EWU defense. Eastern had six quarterback sacks, led by the two of sophomore Joshua Jerome, who also had seven tackles and a fumble recovery.

"It was a total team win by all three phases," Best said. "There were a lot of players who had a hand in the winning effort today."

With the win the Eagles extended its winning streak at "The Inferno" to 16 games.

Eastern plays at UC Davis this Saturday, April 3 at 1:05 p.m. in a battle of 3-1 teams in the league.  The NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs - just 16 teams this year - are slated to begin on April 24 and this game will go a long ways in deciding those berths.

Weber State leads the standings with two games to play with a 3-0 record and plays at Southern Utah Saturday and hosts Idaho State April 10.

Paul Delaney is a retired former Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].