Senior Day for Antoine Custer Jr. was a memorable experience.
 
The senior running back from Berkeley, Calif., had a career-high 218 yards rushing to help the Eastern Washington University football team to its 13th-straight winning season and remain unbeaten at home with a 53-46 victory over Portland State Saturday (Nov. 23) at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash.
 
Finishing the regular season 7-5 overall and 6-2 in the Big Sky, EWU closed with its fourth-straight victory – the team's only multiple game winning streak of the season. EWU has a current school-record 14-game winning streak at "The Inferno," with Eastern going a perfect 5-0 at home and 2-5 on the road this season.
 
Eastern scored 28 unanswered points spanning halftime to break it open from a 17-all tie. Portland State rallied to pull within a single score in the fourth quarter, but Eastern senior wide receiver Jayson Williams recovered an onside kick with two minutes left and EWU was able to run out the clock.
 
Custer averaged 13.6 yards per carry, and scored on runs of 29 and 2 yards. He had an 88-yard non-scoring rush, and finished with the 15th-most yards in school history. He finished the regular season with 1,228 yards for eighth all-time at EWU and his 3,045 career yards are fourth.
 
"Antoine embodies who we are," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best. "He shows up to work and he has fun during practice, and it shows during games. He's arguably one of the better backs if not the best back in this league. He's paid his dues and it's shown, not only today, but over the past four years with his body of work."
 
Quarterback Eric Barriere passed for 260 yards and rushed for 23 in the win, passing for three and scoring another on a 10-yard rush. Redshirt freshman Freddie Roberson had his first 100-yard receiving performance as an Eagle with four catches for 104 yards.
 
Senior Andrew Katzenberger had a team-high 14 tackles, with senior Jack Sendelbach and junior Kedrick Johnson had 10 apiece. Senior Dehonta Hayes, Eastern's leading tackler, had nine to give him 115 for the year.
 
Eastern has faint hopes of gaining a berth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs, and will know its fate Sunday (Nov. 24) at 9:30 a.m. The brackets will be unveiled on ESPNU.
 
"Hopefully we can hear those two precious words – Eastern Washington – on TV tomorrow morning," said Best. "Regardless, it doesn't put a stamp good or bad on the season. There are people outside of our room that cast us away after a 1-3 start. Here we are 6-2 in the conference after going 8-0, 6-2 and 7-1 before that – there aren't many teams in this conference that can boast of that. So it's not how you start but it's how you finish. I'm proud of this bunch of seniors and our entire program."
 
Eastern scored 14 of its points in the first half off a pair of interceptions. The Eagles took a 17-7 lead in the first quarter on a 10-yard run by Barriere after the first career interception for senior Tysen Prunty. In the second quarter after PSU knotted the score at 17, an interception by redshirt freshman Tre Weed led to a 29-yard touchdown run by Custer. Weed originally returned the pick 33 yards for a TD, but a penalty shortened the penalty.
 
That started the run of 28-straight points for the Eagles. A strategic EWU timeout late in the first half, helped Eastern get the ball back with 2:31 to play. But the Eagles only needed 1:12 to go 88 yards on four plays, with sophomore Andrew Boston scoring on a 14-yard pass from Barriere and giving EWU a 30-17 halftime lead. Barriere had passes on the drive of 33 yards to Boston, 24 to senior Jayson Williams and 22 to redshirt freshmen Freddie Roberson.
 
Eastern then scored the first two times it had the ball in the second half, including drives of 90 yards and 56. Custer scored on a 2-yard run after his 88-yarder, and then Tamarick Pierce caught a 4-yard TD pass from Barriere. Eastern added an insurance TD in the fourth quarter on a 2-yard run by Pierce, who finished with 54 yards in just his fourth game played this season, ensuring he can still redshirt and return in 2020.
 
Eastern honored a group of 19 seniors in pre-game ceremonies. Those seniors have helped Eastern win 38 games overall with a 27-5 Big Sky record in the last four seasons, including Big Sky titles and berths in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs in 2016 and 2018.
 
 
Records & Rankings . . .
 
* Eastern is 7-5 overall and 6-2 in the Big Sky, and has a four-game winning streak. Eastern beat Northern Arizona 66-38 on Nov. 2 in Cheney, Wash., and that came after a 34-17 loss for the Eagles at rival Montana after owning a 17-10 lead in the third quarter. The Eagles are a perfect 5-0 at home and 2-5 on the road this season.
 
* Last week, Eastern took its No. 1 offense in the FCS to Cal Poly and emerged with a 42-41 victory and 496 yards of total offense to maintain that lead. The Eagles averaged 9.2 yards per play, with their six scoring drives taking just 31 plays for 450 yards and 9:01 off the clock – averages of 14.5 yards per play and 1:30 per possession.
 
* Coached by former Eagle player and 1987 graduate Bruce Barnum, PSU opened the season 5-3 and 3-1 in the Big Sky, but has dropped its last four. The Vikings, who had a bye last week, lost consecutive games to Northern Arizona (31-29), Montana (38-23) and UC Davis (45-28), and finished the year 5-7 overall and 3-5 in the Big Sky.

 
What's Next . . .
 
* Eastern still has hopes to garner one of 14 at-large berths into the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. The Eagles will find out their fate at 9:30 a.m. Pacific time via ESPNU when the brackets are revealed for the 24-team tournament. Eastern advanced to the championship game a year ago, and has made 13 previous playoff appearances to rank 12th in FCS history. Eastern is also ranked ninth all-time with 19 victories, and is seventh in percentage (.612, 19-12).
 
* Eastern's next regular-season game is scheduled for Sept. 5, 2020, at Florida. The Eagles open a six-game home schedule the next week versus Western Illinois on Sept. 12, and also host Northern Arizona (Sept. 19), Montana (Oct. 3), Idaho (Oct. 17), Weber State (Oct. 24) and Montana State (Nov. 7).
 
 
Key Stats . . .
 
* The Eagles finished with 299 yards on the ground and 260 through the air to finish with 559 yards – one less than the 560 for PSU. Eastern entered the Portland State game as the FCS leader in total offense (521.7), with 1,891 yards in the last three games (630.3 per game). The Eagles were fourth in FCS in passing (322.3), 24th in rushing (199.5) and sixth in scoring (39.5).
 
* Eastern forced three turnovers and none itself, giving the Eagles a 55-0 record since 2010 when winning the turnover battle. Eastern was 16th in turnover margin (plus 0.73 per game), with 21 takeaways (26th) and 13 giveaways (21st).
 
* Running back Antoine Custer Jr., who has had six 100-yard performances this season – four-straight -- entered the game 24th nationally in rushing (91.8) and 10th in rushing touchdowns (14). He now has 12 total 100-yard performances in his career.
 
 
EWU Highlights . . .
 
* Eastern's 19 seniors, including several who are candidates to receive sixth years and return in 2020, have helped Eastern go 38-14 overall (73.1 percent) and 27-5 (84.4 percent) in Big Sky Conference play in the last three-plus seasons. Eastern's particularly large group of 27 seniors honored a year ago was reduced to 25 when Spencer Blackburn and Kaleb Levao each received a sixth year to complete four years of eligibility at EWU. Those 19 seniors entered Saturday combining for 774 games played and 351 total starts in their careers. One of them, defensive end Darnell Hogan, made the second start of his career versus the Vikings.
 
 
Notables . . .
 
* Having won all five of its regular season home games in 2018 and a trio of playoff games, Eastern has extended its current home winning streak to a school-record 14 in the 2019 season. Eastern is now 57-10 (85.1 percent) overall at Roos Field since 2010. The stadium has been known as "Roos Field" since 2010 when a new red synthetic Sprinturf surface made its debut. Eastern's last home loss came on Nov. 4, 2017, versus Weber State. At its current site, the previous school record was 11 consecutive home wins set between 9/16/78 and 9/27/80 (between losses was from 11/19/77 to 11/1/80). Overall, the school record is 21 set from 1935-40. Eastern has lost just six regular season games at "The Inferno" – 44-6 (88.0 percent), plus are 13-4 (76.5 percent) in playoff games. The only regular season losses at home for EWU since 2010 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 (2017).
 
* November has long been a successful month for Eastern, and so far they are continuing that in 2019 with a 4-0 record thus far. Since 2004, EWU has lost just seven regular season games in November (Weber State in 2017; NAU, Portland State and Montana in 2015; Sac State and Weber State in 2006; and Cal Poly in 2005), with an overall record of 39-7 and a current nine-game winning streak in the month. Until losing to Northern Arizona on Nov. 7, 2015, Eastern had won its last 19 regular season games in November, dating back to a 15-13 loss to Sacramento State on Nov. 1, 2008. In November and beyond since 2004, the Eagles are now 55-16, including a 39-7 regular season mark and 16-9 record in the FCS Playoffs. Since 2010, Eastern is 40-9 overall in November and beyond (26-4 regular season and 14-5 in the playoffs), with the lone setbacks coming in 2019 to North Dakota State in the NCAA Division I Championship game; 2017 to Weber State; 2016 to Youngstown State in the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs; 2015 to Portland State, Montana and Northern Arizona; 2014 to Illinois State in the playoff quarterfinals; 2013 to Towson in the playoff semifinals; and 2012 to Sam Houston State in the playoff semifinals.
 
* The Eagles have been impressive – if not dominant – in the league in the last 13 years (2007-2019), winning nearly 80 percent of their games (83-21, .798) and six titles. In that span, Eastern has had no league finish below 5-3 and five of them have included 7-1 or 8-0 records.
 
* The Eagles have won 59 of their last 70 Big Sky games since a 0-2 start in 2011. Included are current stretches of 48 victories in the last 57 games (including two at the end of the 2012 season) and 27 of the last 32 (since 2016). Including three wins at the end of the 2009 season, Eastern has a 69-14 record in league games since then. Including four non-conference victories (two versus MSU, and one each against Cal Poly and Northern Arizona), two playoff wins (Montana and UC Davis) and one loss (Idaho), the Eagles are 65-12 since the 0-2 start in 2011 and 55-9 since the end of the 2012 campaign.
 
* Eastern has now had 22 winning seasons in the last 24 years (1996-2019), including a current school record string of 13-straight (2007-19) and another stretch of seven straight (1999-2005). The last time Eastern had that many winning seasons in a row came 75 years earlier in the Red Reese era when Eastern had a string of 11-straight winning seasons from 1931-1941. Since 1996, the only losing seasons for the Eagles came in 1998 under Mike Kramer (5-6) and 2006 under Paul Wulff (3-8).
 
* The game broke a 21-20-1 deadlock in the all-time series, as Eastern has won the last four meetings, seven of the last eight and nine of the last 11. During Eastern's current winning streak in the series, the Eagles have averaged 588.3 yards of offense (2,353 total), while out-scoring the Vikings 221-130 (average score of 55-32). However, four of the five meetings from 2012-16 were decided by seven point or less, including a one-point win by the Eagles in 2013 (42-41) and a three-point loss in 2015 (34-31). Eastern is 9-11-1 at home against them and 1-0 in neutral site games. Eastern is 11-9 against the Vikings in Portland, including victories in 2018 (74-23), 2010 (50-17) and 2002 (27-24) at Hillsboro Stadium. The road team has won 13 of the last 22 meetings, not including a 2009 neutral site game in Seattle. The longest winning streak by either team was by Portland State in the first four games of the series from 1968-71, and in 2019 Eastern matched that streak.
 
 
Head Coach Aaron Best Comments . . .
 
On Seniors: "You never like to see your family members – in this case our student-athletes – leave the nest and enter new territory. But I think we've done a good job of instilling the next phase of experiences to them and with them throughout life. They've been resilient with as much adversity as these seniors have faced throughout their careers. That's what the game of football is about, and we find a little bit more of that in Cheney than most. I'm really, really proud of everybody involved, but especially those players exhausting their eligibility here at Eastern. It's a long journey and we talked about it all week. Not everybody finishes their career as a senior – there is a lot of blood, a lot of sweat and a lot of tears involved in getting to this point, and they should be commended. This is the ultimate team sport, and it's a physical sport and is an unruly sport at times. Nonetheless, they all made it a memorable finish after starting the season 1-3."
 
On Running Game: "We're still pass/RPO first, but we're going to rely heavily on the run. Teams that are great and play at the end of November and into December are teams that play defense and run the ball consistently. That's what we've adopted here. You have to have to have different variations of running the ball, and yards per carry is where it's at. The No. 1 offense in the nation resides in Cheney, and we haven't been able to say that too often. We've been in the top five and top 10 many times, but we've done it this year after starting 1-3 on the season."
 
On Keys to Winning Consistently: "It starts with turnovers, then it's third down conversion percentage and red zone. You have to move the sticks to get to the red zone, and those are the three things we've hammered home these past three years. We have to be better in those three areas than our opponent."