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A fast start and taking advantage of turnovers means the Eagles are headed to Frisco.
 
For the first time in four tries in the semifinals since winning the 2010 NCAA Division I championship, the Eagles jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and were victorious in the semifinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs by routing Maine 50-19 Saturday (Dec. 15) at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash.
 
Fourth-seeded Eastern will play for the NCAA Division I title on Saturday, Jan. 5 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, in the championship game, which begins at 9 a.m. Pacific time on ESPN2. Eastern will play defending champion and unbeaten North Dakota State, which beat South Dakota State 44-21 in Friday's other semifinal game. The Bison are 14-0 and are the top-ranked and top-seeded team in FCS, with titles in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017.
 
"We're going to enjoy this for a few days," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best, who as an assistant coach in 2010 when EWU won the title. "This has taken a lot of time, effort, focus and energy to get to this point. But the journey doesn't end here. For three weeks we've been fortunate enough to knock off a league champion, and here we are playing against another."
 
Sophomore quarterback Eric Barriere led the way for the Eagles with a career-high 405 yards of total offense, including 352 passing with seven touchdown passes to tie a school record and break the FCS Playoffs record. Wide receiver Nsimba Webster tied both the school and FCS Playoffs records with four touchdown receptions, and finished with nine catches for 188 yards.
 
Eastern also rushed for 216 yards against the top rushing defense in FCS, as EWU out-gained the Bears 568-479 in total offense. Senior Sam McPherson had 64 rushing yards, but three other players had at least 41. The Eagles didn't give up a sack versus a team ranked second in FCS with 47 total on the year.
 
Junior safety Dehonta Hayes led Eastern defensively with a career-high 13 tackles, with EWU as a team forcing four turnovers, getting three sacks and finishing with eight passes broken up. Eastern now has 70 passes broken up this season to break the previous record of 67 set in 2010.
 
Senior cornerback Josh Lewis intercepted a pass that set-up EWU's first score, then a strip-sack and fumble recovery by sophomore Keith Moore led to a second TD later in the quarter. Eastern led 28-0 at halftime and then scored 22 points in the second half to win its seventh-straight game.
 
 "It was a total team effort," said Best. "I can't say enough to score 50 and allow only 19 in a semifinal against a very good Maine Black Bears team. That says something. Our team played very, very energized today and were very passionate. People wanted to know why we couldn't win in a semifinal on our home field since 2010, and here we are – we did it today."
 
Eastern finished the regular season ranked fourth in the STATS Top 25 poll and were third in the American Football Coaches Association poll, while Maine was 12th and 14th in the two polls, respectively. Right with the Eagles were Weber State (3/4) and UC Davis (7/10), with Montana State also ranked (23/24) and earning a playoff berth with a 7-4 record.
 
 
Records & Rankings . . .
 
* Now 12-2 overall and finishing 7-1 in the Big Sky in 2018, Eastern captured its 10th Big Sky title and a 13th appearance in the FCS Playoffs. This is the 12th-straight season the Eagles will have finished 5-3 or better in the Big Sky, with a 12th-straight winning season and 21st in the last 23 years.
 
* Maine closed its season 10-4 and was the outright champions in the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association). The seventh-seeded Black Bears upset No. 2 seed Weber State 23-18 in the quarterfinals on Dec. 7.
 
 
What It Means . . .
 
* Eastern will take its 1-0 championship game record up against a North Dakota State team which has won six of the last seven FCS titles since EWU won in 2010. The Bison have lost just one playoff game since losing to Eastern 38-31 in overtime in the quarterfinals in 2010, and NDSU is a perfect 6-0 in the title game. The game versus Maine was Eastern's sixth trip to the semifinals in 13 playoff appearances (12th-most in FCS history), with Eastern beating Villanova 41-31 in the 2010 semifinals at Roos Field before knocking off Delaware 20-19 in Frisco for the title. The Eagles were playing in their 29th game in the FCS playoffs all-time and 21st at home, and lost in the semifinals at Roos Field in 2012, 2013 and 2016, and at Albi Stadium in Spokane in 1997. The Eagles are now 19-11 all-time in the FCS Playoffs to move into eighth all-time in wins.
 
* Eastern has won 12 games for just the fourth time in school history, with the record coming during EWU's national championship season in 2010 when the Eagles were victorious 13 times. Eastern won 12 games in 1997, 2013 and 2016, and had 11 in 2012, 2014 and 1967. Thus, this is the sixth time in the last nine seasons (2010-2018) that Eastern has been victorious at least 11 times.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
Eastern and North Dakota State will meet on Saturday, Jan. 5 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, in the championship game, which begins at 9 a.m. Pacific time on ESPN2. Top-seeded and unbeaten North Dakota State (14-0) beat fifth-seeded South Dakota State 44-21 in the other semifinal game, played Friday (Dec. 14) at in Fargo, N.D.
 
 
Keys to Game . . .
 
* Sophomore quarterback Eric Barriere and senior Nsimba Webster hooked up four times for touchdowns on a record-setting day for both players. Barriere had seven touchdown passes to tie the record of seven set by Vernon Adams Jr. versus Washington on Sept. 6, 2014. It also broke the previous FCS Playoffs record of six held by five former players, including Eagles Kyle Padron and Adams in 2012. Barriere finished with a career-high 405 yards of total offense, including 352 passing and 53 rushing. Webster had TD catches of 11, 16, 9 and 58 yards from Barriere, and finished with nine catches for 188 yards. His four TDs tied the school record held by three other EWU players and the FCS Playoffs record by a pair of players, including Marshall's Randy Moss in 1996. Besides his four touchdowns to Webster, Barriere also had TD passes of 3 and 29 yards to Jayce Gilder, and a 1-yard toss to Andrew Boston.
 
 
Turning Point . . .
 
* A week after forcing four turnovers in a quarterfinal win over UC Davis but not scoring any points off of them, EWU scored 14 quick points off turnovers in the first quarter. Josh Lewis had the first of his two interceptions early in the game at the Maine 22-yard line, and returned it to the 1 to set-up a TD pass from sophomore Eric Barriere to redshirt freshman Andrew Boston. Later in the quarter, after a strip-sack and recovery by sophomore Keith Moore, Barriere capped a 56-yard drive with a 3-yard TD pass to Jayce Gilder. Later in the quarter, Eastern went on a seven-play, 75-yard drive to take a 21-0 lead. That was capped by an 11-yard TD pass by Barriere to Nsimba Webster – the first of a school-record four Webster would have on the day.
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
* In the 10th start of his career and ninth this season, junior Eric Barriere accounted for 405 yards of offense. He completed 21-of-30 passes and had a school-record seven touchdowns, plus rushed seven times for 53 yards. He had a touchdown run called back because of a penalty. He is now 9-1 as a starter, including 8-1 this season as an injury replacement for Gage Gubrud. Eastern is 8-0 when he's rushed for at least 20 yards this season.
* Senior wide receiver Nsimba Webster had nine catches for 188 yards and four touchdowns, equaling EWU's school record shared by three other players. It was his second-most yards in his career, ranking behind the 212 he had on 10 catches in EWU's 2018 opener versus Central Washington. He now has eight 100-yard performances in his career.
* Senior running back Sam McPherson rushed for 64 yards to lead a quartet of Eastern players with at least 41 yards. He has six 100-yard performances in his career and five this season, and now has 1,288 yards this season to remain fifth in single season school history. Quarterback Eric Barriere rushed for 53, Antoine Custer Jr. had 45 and Tamarick Pierce rushed for 41, with Dennis Merritt pitching in 22 on a trio of carries. Eastern as a team averaged 6.0 per rush.
* Junior Jayce Gilder had a pair of touchdown catches (3 and 29 yards) and finished with three catches for 50 yards.
* Junior Jayson Williams caught three passes for 70 yards for the Eagles, including a 38-yard gain.
* Senior Josh Lewis had a pair of interceptions to give him 10 in his career and move into a tie for ninth in school history. He also had three passes broken up to give him 23 in his career and move into ninth all-time at EWU, and helped EWU establish a new season school record in the process He also had five tackles for the Eagle defense.
* Junior Dehonta Hayes led Eastern with a career-high 13 tackles, eclipsing his previous high of 12 versus Weber State on Oct. 13. He also had a pass broken up, helping EWU establish a new season school record.
* Senior linebacker Ketner Kupp and sophomore linebacker Chris Ojoh each had eight tackles. Kupp has nine career games in double figures in tackles and Ojoh, who was making just the seventh start of his career, has three. Ojoh had two quarterback hurries versus the Black Bears.
* Sixth-year senior kicker Roldan Alcobendas didn't have any field goals, and remains as the only player in FCS to be perfect on the season at 15-for-15. But he converted all six of his extra points to improve to 68-of-69 for the season (last 67 consecutively) and punted six times for a 41.6 average, with three downed inside the UC Davis 20-yard line. He now has 113 kick scoring points in 2018 after having previously broke the record of 103 set by Josh Atwood in 1997. The 113 points ranks fifth in Big Sky history, just nine from the league record of 122. Alcobendas has a school-record 314 career points which is sixth in Big Sky history. With 67-straight extra points made this season, he broke his own single season record of 63 consecutive in 2016. He set the career record for extra points in a row with 85 from 2016-17.
 
 
Key Stats . . .
 
* Eastern didn't allow a sack and rushed for 216 yards – 6.0 per rush – which played a big part in EWU scoring 50 points for the sixth time this season. Maine brought a defense to Cheney which led FCS in rushing defense and ranked ninth overall. The Black Bears allowed just 68.7 yards on the ground this season, and are allowing just 2.11 yards per carry to lead FCS, while EWU was averaging 6.78 per carry to rank second in FCS offensively and 266.6 per game (10th in FCS). Maine was also second in FCS in sacks, with three players with at least nine (Sterling Sheffield, Kayon Whitaker, Deshawn Stevens). The Black Bears also featured the FCS leader in passes broken up (Manny Patterson with 22), but had only one.
 
  
EWU Highlights . . .
 
* Eastern broke the school record for single season passes broken up, finishing with eight versus Maine. Eastern now has 70 for the season, breaking the previous record of 67 set in 2010. Three of the pass break-ups were recorded by Josh Lewis, with Nzuzi Webster finishing with two. Webster now has 31 in his career to remain fourth in school history, while Lewis now has 23 to rank ninth. Eastern's defense also had three sacks – two by Keith Moore and a shared sack by Mitchell Johnson and Jonah Jordan. In addition, Chris Ojoh had a pair of quarterback hurries, Moore forced a fumble he recovered and Caleb Davis also recovered a Maine fumble. EWU won the turnover battle 4-1, which makes EWU 50-0 since 2010 when winning the turnover battle.
 
 
Notables . . .
 
* The Eagles had never played Maine, and are now 4-1 versus current members of the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association), with all of those meetings coming in the FCS Playoffs. Eastern beat Villanova (41-31) in the 2010 semifinals, Delaware (20-19) in the 2010 championship game and Richmond (38-0) in the 2016 quarterfinals, but also fell to Towson (35-31) in the 2013 semifinals.
 
• This is Aaron Best's first playoff appearance as head coach, but 10th overall. He was a player in 1997, then coached in 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and now 2018). He has now been a part of 25 playoff games (17-8), with 22 as a coach (15-7) and three as a player (2-1). He has been involved in 21 of those games at home (15-6), just three on the road (1-2) and was offensive coordinator and offensive line coach in 2010 when the Eagles won the NCAA Division I title with a 20-19 victory over Delaware on a neutral field in Frisco, Texas.
 
* Eastern entered the game with a six-game winning streak which includes a 295-120 advantage on the scoreboard – an average score of 49-20. Most notably, Eastern entered averaging 555.0 yards of offense during the streak, compared to 362.7 for opponents, including a 280.0 to 156.5 advantage in rushing. Eastern also entered with a big advantage in turnovers forced (19-7) with 13 interceptions.
 
* The Eagles won their first 11 games this season by an average of 30.3 points per game – 543-210 for an average score of 49-19. Until rallying for a 34-29 win over UC Davis in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs, the closest victories were 21 points versus Nicholls and 24 against Idaho. The largest was a 53-point romp over Cal Pol, which was the biggest winning margin for EWU in a Big Sky game and the third-largest overall as a member of FCS.
 
* After winning all five of its regular season home games in 2018 and now two postseason contests, Eastern is now 52-10 overall at Roos Field since 2010. Eastern has lost just six regular season games at "The Inferno" – 39-6 (86.6 percent), plus are 13-4 in playoff games. The only regular season losses at home for EWU since then are to conference foes Montana State (2011), Portland State (2011 and 2015), Northern Arizona (2015) and Weber State (2017), as well as North Dakota State.
 
* In the last 10+ seasons (2008-18), the Eagles are now 59-1 when they've won the turnover battle, 24-6 when they've been tied and 21-31 when they've lost (total of 104-38). The last time EWU lost when it won the turnover battle came in the 2009 FCS Playoffs at Stephen F. Austin when EWU had two miscues and forced four in the 44-33 loss. Thus, EWU is 50-0 since 2010 when they've won the turnover battle, 21-5 when they've been tied and 19-24 when they've lost.
 
 
Eastern Head Coach Aaron Best Comments . . .
 
On Win: "We faced a stout Maine team and we protected the red turf in front of our home fans. We were efficient in a lot of areas and I can't say enough. We knew they would be tough to run against, so we put in some different things. I didn't even know that Eric had seven touchdown passes – that's how focused we are during the sixty minutes of a game.
 
On Josh Lewis Interception in First Quarter: "We were happy to get a turnover like that and give the ball to the offense at the 1-yard line. It's not just a huge momentum change, but it's a huge momentum developer. Whenever you are a plus-three in turnover margin, you are going to win – so says the numbers since 2010."
 
On Gameplan: "It was hard work inside, so we wanted to do some things that maybe we haven't shown this year. But we didn't want to get too far away from what has gotten us to this point. We stayed true to our identity and (offensive coordinator) Bodie Reeder and (defensive coordinator) Jeff Schmedding called great games."
 
On Coming Days: "We'll get back in the saddle on Monday as far as the team goes. We'll practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, then give them a little bit of a breather and get them home for Christmas break for a few days. Then we'll come back and start prepping for North Dakota State because they are a heckuva football team."
 
 
 EWU Player Eric Barriere Comments . . .
 
On the Offensive Line: "Our offensive line came out here and did great today because they knew they had a tough challenge. Throughout the week, we challenged them that as long as they can protect and block, we can pick them apart."
 
On Improvement Since Weber State: "We just had a bad game. We saw things on film, and I didn't do a good job. We just tried to progress and get better every week. I'm better at decision making, seeing reads and getting our receivers the ball."
 
On the Run Game: "Our offensive line did a great job blocking. Maine didn't want me to get outside, so I thought that opened up a lot of our running backs."
 
On the Last Time he Threw This Many Touchdowns: "I've done it three times now, and this one is way better because we're going to the championship, you can't beat that. It hasn't hit me yet, it felt like a regular game but once I settle in and listen to my mom going crazy, it will."
 
 
EWU Player Ketner Kupp Comments . . .
 
On the Turnovers: "Anytime we can get the ball back in our offense's hands, we're doing something right. We were lucky to have guys make plays like that and our offense took advantage of them."
 
On Barriere's Play: "It's unreal. His maturity and never overlooks anything, he takes everything on as a pro and it's been awesome to watch him develop and lead this team."
 
On What This Moment Means: "It's awesome. A lot of hard work from a lot of guys coming together paid off. We have one more step left and I'm excited for the opportunity."
 
On Playing NDSU: "We're excited, they set the bar high and we're excited to go and take them on."
 
On the Defensive Line: "Like all year, it's been the next man up. Our defensive line is deep and we have playmakers top to bottom in that group. It's been cool to see young guys go out there and step up and attack their role."
 
On Forcing Turnovers: "We try to get at least three turnovers every practice since we started practice this fall. We know if we get the ball back in the offense's hands we're going to be in good shape. That's our primary focus."
 
 
 
Maine Head Coach Joe Harasymiak Comments . . .
 
Opening Statement: "Congratulations to Eastern Washington on a great performance today. Congratulations to Coach Best, his staff, all the players and the University, they deserve to go and were the better team today. I'm proud of my guys and proud of the seniors for taking us to a level that we've never been to. I believe that we represented the University and our state of Maine in every way. It wasn't our day today so credit to them, they won a lot of one on one matchups. We'll be back, and we're excited about that."
 
On Changing the Play Calling: "In the second half, we decided to start chucking it and going for it on fourth down. It's hard in those situations because you don't go over being down three or four scores as a coach. I didn't want the players to think we were giving up on them, but there comes a point where you have to come to grips with the reality of the situation."
 
On Eric Barriere's Play: "I can't believe he's the backup here, that's impressive. We knew that coming in, we play quarterbacks like him in our league that extend plays with their feet. We just didn't do a great job in certain situations. The bottom line is that they won every single matchup, it wasn't our day."
 
The Support of Maine: "It's been awesome, we can't get here without everyone's support. The University, the community, President and Athletic Directors came in and didn't know me, but they gave me support and that's the reason why we're here today. It's everything we wanted, we went to a place where we've never been and now we've set a standard. We want to be in this position every year.
 
 
Maine Player Andre Miller Comments . . .
 
On Scoring a Touchdown: "It's cool, but personally there we some plays that I left out there that could've helped us in a positive way. It's cool, but we didn't get done what we wanted to get done."
 
 
Maine Player Chris Ferguson Comments . . .
 
The Message Being Down 21-0: "We stayed positive and kept urging each other. We've been in this position before, but this one didn't turn out the way we wanted it to. I'm proud of these guys because we kept going the whole game no matter what the scoreboard said. Credit to them, they played a good game today."
 
On Eastern Washington's Defense: "I don't think it was their defense, they played well and have good players, but it was more us. We moved the ball in the beginning of the day and I turned the ball over early and had a fumble as well and that was on me, we can't start that way in the first quarter because it puts our defense in a hole and once we got in it, we couldn't get out. They are a talented defense and do good things, but nothing different."
 
 
Maine Player Jeffrey Devaughn Comments . . .
 
On a Historic Season: "I'm not satisfied with this. We knew we got this far and there's no point of going this far and saying we can lose. We practiced like we were the best team all week, we were the best team, we just weren't the best team today. I'm not satisfied with this, why would you want to hold yourself to a lower standard? It's a great team and we knew we could've gone all the way, we are the best team but we left something out there today that's going to hurt for a little while."