Eastern advances to second round of playoffs

CHENEY – Nearly 4,000 fans braved the rain and attended the first-round, Nov. 27 playoff game at Roos Field, where the Eastern Washington Eagles beat the Northern Iowa Panthers 19-9 in a hard-fought contest.

Both teams battled back-and-forth early in the game as penalties and key defensive stops prevented scores on both sides of the ball.

Receiving the ball initially, the Eagles first drive faltered after gaining just 17 yards and Nick Kokich punted the ball down to the Northern Iowa 5-yard line.

The Panthers would have gone three-and-out; however a costly defensive pass interference play on third down called on Calin Criner allowed Northern Iowa to continue driving downfield.

Panther quarterback Theo Day completed a couple short passes to build some momentum, and would connect with receiver Isaiah Weston for a 59-yard gain down to the Eagle 25-yard line.

Weston totaled 91 yards on 4 catches during the game.

Two plays later running back Dom Williams took the ball and charged 21 yards down to the 4-yard-line, but the play was called back to the 31-yard-line due to an offensive holding call.

Another two plays went by, and the Panther quarterback threw a 30-yard dart to wide out Sam Schnee who was tackled at the Eagle 1-yard line.

The afternoon rain continued to fall, and the Eastern Washington fans started getting loud.

"Defense," the crowd chanted as the Panthers lined up.

Northern Iowa's offense tried punching the ball through, but the Eagles made a stand to prevent a touchdown. Rather than kicking a field goal, the Panthers decided to go for it on fourth down but were stopped and the Eagle's took over on downs.

Eagle quarterback Eric Barriere lined up behind center at the 2-yard line and handed the ball to Dennis Merritt, who would lose a yard on the play, pinning the Eagle's on their own 1-yard line.

Barriere snapped the ball on second down and with a quick step back he launched a long pass to Freddie Roberson down the sideline who was tackled at the Northern Iowa 13, gaining 86 yards. Roberson had 5 catches on the day totaling 127 yards.

Barriere completed 20-of-34 passes with 283 yards and a touchdown and an interception in the game.

Three plays later, Barriere connected with Andrew Boston for what seemed to be a touchdown, but the score was called back due to an "illegal touching" penalty on the offense.

Jackson Cleaver went on to attempt a 27-yard field goal for Eastern, but missed, kicking the ball wide left. The game was still scoreless with 4:46 left in the first quarter.

The Panthers would go three-and-out again punting the ball to the Eastern 28-yard line with under 3 minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

Barriere lined up with the Eagle offense and put together a well-balanced drive that ended with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Nolan Ulm as the first quarter came to a close.

Cleaver, who missed an earlier field goal, missed the extra point leaving the score at 6-0 in favor of Eastern going into the second quarter.

The Panthers once again struggled to get anything going offensively and punted again on the following drive.

Eastern put together a drive lasting almost 4 minutes and Tamarick Pierce took a handoff and ran 30 yards down to the Panther 3-yard line.

Northern Iowa's defense made a stand and forced another field goal attempt.

Wyatt Hawkins replaced Cleaver as the Eagle kicker and nailed the 22-yard field goal, expanding the margin to 9-0, Eagles.

A series of possessions went with both teams punting back-and-forth.

With just under 4 minutes remaining in the first half, the visiting team found some success behind quarterback Theo Day's arm.

Day completed six passes on the drive, the last of which was a 14-yard pass into the end zone – Sam Schnee made a diving catch to put up the first points for the Panthers.

After the extra point, the score was 9-7 with 27 seconds remaining in the first half.

Day ended up with 12 completions on 22 attempts totaling 189 with a touchdown and interception on the afternoon.

The Eagles went out to try and get those points back, and Barriere threw a couple of passes to the sideline moving the ball 19 yards.

The Eagle quarterback put up a last second hail Mary as the final seconds of the second quarter expired, but the pass was intercepted by Panther defensive back Austin Evans.

The beginning of the second half started with more smashmouth football.

A little over 6 minutes into the third quarter, Panther quarterback threw a pass that was intercepted by Eagle defensive back Keshaun King who returned the ball to the Northern Iowa 27-yard line.

Three plays later, Eric Barriere dropped back and was hurried in the pocket.

Barriere scrambled to the left and darted around the corner for an 18-yard touchdown run midway through the third. Hawkins added the point after taking the score to 16-7 with the Eagles leading.

The Panthers brought in back up quarterback Matt Morrissey because Day.

Morrissey completed 10-of-28 passes and threw 2 interceptions to finish the game.

Northern Iowa stayed scoreless through the third, and penalties hurt their chances of staying in the game.

As time ran down in the third quarter, the Eagles were faced with a third down.

The Panther defense were looking to stop the drive and would have, but committed face mask and personal foul penalties totaling 30 yards and keeping the drive going for Eastern Washington.

Those penalties took the ball down to the 19-yard line and set the offense up for a 30-yard field goal kick by Hawkins bringing the score to 19-6.

Northern Iowa kept fighting, and Matt Morrissey kept putting the ball in the air.

However, with just over 8 minutes left in the game, King grabbed his second interception of the game at the 2-yard line preventing a Panther touchdown.

The Panthers would score a safety due to an offensive miscommunication during a punt as Eagle punter Nick Kokich was rushed so quickly he had to step out of bounds.

Northern Iowa tallied more first downs and had higher total and passing yards, however the team struggled to convert on third downs, finish drives, and players made costly mistakes that Eastern Washington was able to capitalize on.

Eastern Washington travels to face the Montana Grizzlies on Dec. 3 for Round 2 of the FCS college football playoffs.

Matthew O Stephens can be reached at [email protected].