Can't wait for No. 98

By my count, since originally being hired at the Cheney Free Press in July 2007, Eastern Washington has played 97 home football games.

While the overwhelming number of those have been played at either Roos — or before that Woodward Field — a couple have been neutral site “Showdown by the Sound” contests at Century Link, now Lumen Field.

Seen ‘em all… well, almost.

As of last Saturday’s 40-29 Eastern win over Southeast Louisiana — the Eagles’ home opener — I did some counting on my fingers. And of those nearly 100 home games in 17 seasons I found I have now missed just four games.

Last Saturday found me pulled away from being live and gazing at “the red” to immersed (literally) in a project critical to the timely completion of a months-long remodel of rental property.

Rest assured, trading compact seats with little leg room at Roos on an 82-degree day, or even walking the sidelines collecting 10,000 steps and hundreds of photos, was much preferred to stuffing itchy fiberglass insulation into walls, crevasses and ceilings.

But the drywall crews slipped us into their already tight schedule, so I was there in spirit. Play-by-play voice Larry Weir and sidekick Paul Sorenson let me enjoy the Eagles’ come-from-behind win over the Lions.

Tuna Altahir’s 1-yard touchdown run with 1 minute, 34 to play, followed 8 seconds later by Marlon Jones Jr.’s 34-yard pick-six interception return, delivered Eastern its first win of 2023.

It got me thinking about what have now turned out to be memorable few days.

That first absence was simply a matter of not being able to be in two places at once.

Back on Aug. 31 of 2007 my first allegiance was to Medical Lake football. While the Cardinals were rolling up a 42-12 win over Davenport, about 10 miles away in Cheney a severe thunderstorm forced evacuation of Woodward before the Eagles could complete a 52-13 win over NAIA Montana Western.

Strike two was more memorable.

Eastern was in the third season of retooling under Beau Baldwin in 2010 and an unlikely second round Football Championship Series playoff game took place at Roos Field on a snowy Saturday, Dec. 11. It featured an upstart team out of Fargo — North Dakota State University.

A family holiday trip to the Bay Area found me struggling to stream the broadcast of the Eagles’ 38-31 overtime win over the Bison from the relatives’ kitchen table.

The absence prior to last Saturday came in 2019 when I was somewhere on the Snake River in Hells Canyon on a raft trip, foolishly thinking how I was going to enjoy retirement!

The “makes” are obviously a much bigger list, more difficult to parse and impossible to rank.

There was the elation of that first game on the red turf against Montana, Sept. 18, 2010. The Griz have yet to win since in six visits to the red turf.

That win laid down some of the first pavement on the winding road to EWU’s first trip to the FCS championship game in Frisco, Texas.

Excruciating losses to Sam Houston, 45-42 in 2012; Towson, 35-31 in 2013 and the last second heartbreaker, 40-38 to Youngstown State on a brutally cold Dec. 17 in 2016 were easy to pinpoint. Nine points being the difference between three more journeys to Frisco.

Through the years there have been many a miraculous finish, snow in September and the pure magic of watching Cooper Kupp.

One win certainly does not a season make.

However, following their near miss loss 34-31 in double overtime to defending Mountain West champ Fresno State — a Football Bowl Series school — and the finish against SLU, there appears to be an injection of optimism following Eastern’s 3-8 finish in 2022.

Outside of the Eastern coaching staff, there’s not a better person than broadcast voice Weir to evaluate progress.

“I’d say off the top of my head that most of the stat categories have seen plenty of improvement,” he wrote in a text message.

Specifically, “Time of possession has increased by about 3 ½ minutes this season, which helps keep the defense off the field and fresher,” Weir reported. And rushing defense: 207 yards per game in ‘23 vs. 289 in 2022.

Another rugged — and ranked — opponent awaits Eastern Sept. 23 when the Eagles travel to meet Cal-Davis. Then next up at Roos come the reinvigorated Idaho Vandals on Sept. 30.

Can’t wait for No. 98.

— Paul Delaney is the sports reporter at the Cheney Free Press. Email him at [email protected].