Eastern, Idaho battle in regular season finale

CHENEY — There’s plenty that’s different from when Eastern Washington and Idaho met to begin the winter/spring Big Sky Conference football season some seven weeks ago.

This time around it might be the wind, not a piece of scoreboard that affects field goals when Eastern Washington and Idaho meet in the final Big Sky Conference winter/spring game of the season.

And in this second go-around with the Vandals to be played Saturday, April 10 at Roos Field, Eastern head coach Aaron Best will be live on the sidelines, not tucked away due to COVID-19 protocols. Two days prior to that game, Eastern confirmed that Best had tested positive for Covid-19 and would miss the season-opening game but came out of isolation March 6 to coach versus Northern Arizona.

“We’re playing a team we haven’t beaten in a while,” Best said. “It will be fun and new for me – I didn’t get to be there the first time in the Kibbie Dome. But I do know this, we are going back home and we love to play on the Red.”

With four consecutive victories after being stung 28-21 in that Feb. 27 contest in the Kibbie Dome, Eastern (4-1) is likely a win away from qualifying for the playoffs. The Vandal victory was their second in a row dating back to 2019.

Kickoff is 1:05 p.m. with game televised regionally in Eastern Washington on SWX and is also aired on Pluto TV Channel 1053. Fans can also listen to the game on 700-AM ESPN, 105.3-FM, via the web at tunein.com and via mobile phone app, with pre-game coverage starting one hour prior to kickoff.

On Feb. 27 in the 2020-21 season opener for both teams, Eastern opened a 14-0 lead at Idaho, but the Vandals would take their only lead of the game with 54 seconds left and won by a touchdown.

The game featured a whacky sequence of events where a Seth Harrison field goal in the fourth quarter cleared the uprights but bounced back onto the field after striking support structure for the scoreboard. Officials ruled the field goal no good, but after further review the Big Sky overruled the officials’ call, too little, too late.

At this time, no tickets will be made available to the general public at EWU home games, including current season ticket holders.

In accordance with the Health Washington – Roadmap to Recovery Phase 3 guidelines, Eastern is permitted to allow attendance at up to 25 percent of capacity of the facility.

However, as EWU considered regional and institutional guidelines to safely bring spectators back to campus for EWU Football, it was determined to limit attendance to guests of student-athletes and a limited number of EWU students. In addition, Eastern parking lots will continue to be closed to the general public and no pre-game tailgating or overnight parking will be allowed.

Eastern will try to continue a pair of home winning streaks this week. The Eagles have won their last 16 homes games at “The Inferno,” and All-America quarterback Eric Barriere is a perfect 12-0 as a starter there.

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