Eagles lose big lead as Idaho State makes a comeback

POCATELLO —Eastern Washington raced to a big lead Saturday, Oct. 14 in Pocatello, but it was Idaho State’s slow and steady finish that led the the Bengals 42-41 Big Sky Conference football win at Holt Arena.

Eastern had a 35-7 lead with 1 minute, 15 seconds to play in thew first half, but Idaho State went on to outscore the Eagles 35-6 to win in the series for the first time since 2005.

“There were so many opportunities where we could’ve stopped the momentum, but we just didn’t grasp it, didn’t stop it, and when we did, we didn’t do as much with it as we could,” head coach Aaron Best said.

Idaho State capped the rally with a Hunter Hayes touchdown with 52 seconds to play and then watched as Eastern drove to the 21 and Soren McKee’s field goal missed from 38 yards with 2 seconds to play.

Eastern’s Efton Chism III reached 2,000 career receiving yards piling up 161 yards on 13 catches and two touchdowns. And EWU quarterback Kekoa Visperas returned to action after missing the Idaho game two weeks pervious and was a career-best 33 for 47 with 403 yards and three touchdowns.

Eastern forced two turnovers — both interceptions by safety Armani Orange — and gave up none, marking the second game in a row in which the Eagles won the turnover battle but lost the game. They are now 70-6 since 2010 when doing so.

Eastern will host the Weber State at Roos Field for Homecoming, Saturday, Oct. 21, with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m.