The 18^th-straight win at Roos Field was a dominating one for the Eastern Washington University football team. The Eagles hosted Central Washington in its home-opener on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 11) in Cheney, Wash., and cruised to a 63-14 victory, the 11^th highest scoring game in EWU history.
 
In a balanced attack on the ground (323 yards) and through the air (322 yards), the Eagles totaled 645 yards and eight touchdowns. The yardage total was the 19^th-most in program history.
 
"We played well in all three phases and we played off of each other. There was some sputtering on offense as far as protection was concerned. We got away from the run a little bit and then we started to lean on a little bit more which opened up the pass. Defensively, there was really only one series that was really in doubt early on, but we buckled down. We caused a couple turnovers and it was great to see those guys make plays to extend the streak to 18 wins on the red in a row. A couple of our young guys also stepped up who haven't played a ton, like Kameron Lane who played well," said head coach Aaron Best. "It's always fun to play at home in front of your home fans and there was a different buzz in the air. Having the ability to play the game we love with fans in the stands was second to none."
 
The Eagles scored on their opening drive following a six-yard rush from Eric Barriere. Central Washington would score a touchdown on its ensuing drive, but wouldn't score again until the end of the fourth quarter, allowing EWU to score 55 unanswered points over the Wildcats. Six of Eastern's touchdowns came in an explosive first half, allowing Eastern to lead 46-7 at the half. It was the most points ever scored in a half at the Football Championship Subdivision by the Eagles.
 
Dennis Merritt had 120 of EWU's 323-rushing yards on 10 carries along with 39 receiving yards to go with two touchdowns as he passed 1,000 career rushing yards to bring his total to 1,039. Justice Jackson also passed the 100-yard mark for the first time in his career with 102 on 11 carries and a touchdown. Eric Barriere, Andrew Boston, Blake Gobel, Conor Crist and Ty Graham accounted for the other scores, while kicker Seth Harrison went 2-for-3 on field goal attempts and was perfect on extra points.
 
Barriere was 20-for-30 with no interceptions, throwing for 264 yards and rushing for 21 with three touchdowns. Gunner Talkington was 5-for-9 and threw for 58 yards and rushed for 12.
 
Defensively, Cale Lindsay led the way with eight tackles, two of which were for loss. Kameron Lane and Ty Graham caught their first career interceptions, with Graham taking his back 43-yards for the score. Lane had seven total tackles while Graham had six.
 
On the receiving end, Talolo Limu-Jones led the way with 41 receiving yards on five catches.
 
RECORDS: Eastern Washington improves to 2-0 to start the season, marking the best start since the 2018 season when the Eagles also started 2-0, with one of the wins over Central Washington, en route to a runner-up finish at the FCS National Championship.
 
Central Washington falls to an even 1-1.
 
Eastern Washington pulls ahead in the all-time series, 36-30-4, winning its third-straight over the Wildcats.
 
This marks Eastern's 18^th-straight win at Roos Field, extending its school record. This is the second-longer home winning streak in the country after James Madison won its 19^th-straight with a 55-7 win over Maine today.
 
GAME DETAILS: Eastern Washington found the endzone first after Eric Barriere rushed for six-yard for the 19^th rushing touchdown of his career. The Eagles were aggressive early as they went for the two-point conversion and converted on a two-yard rush from Gunner Talkington to take an 8-0 lead, capping an eight play, 67-yard drive.
 
Central Washington scored its lone points of the half on the ensuing drive, a one-yard rushing touchdown to cut EWU's lead to 8-7.
 
The Eagles would score two more times in the first quarter, first when Andrew Boston scored the first rushing touchdown of his career on a 16-yard rush and again when Seth Harrison kicked a 35-yard field goal. At the end of the first, Eastern led 18-7.
 
The offense exploded in in the second quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 28-0. The scoring opened when Barriere found Dennis Merritt downfield for 14 yards and the touchdown. Merritt set himself up well on Eastern's next drive with a 60-yard rush. A few plays later, he received the handoff from Barriere and rushed four yards for his second touchdown of the game.
 
The defense got into the mix when Mitchell Johnson applied pressure on CWU's quarterback. Ty Graham then caught his first career interception for a touchdown as an Eagle, taking it 43-yards to the house. Harrison's extra point made it 39-7 Eagles.
 
Facing third and three, Barriere threw to Freddie Roberson for 16-yards into the endzone. Roberson would fumble but it was recovered by Connor Crist and the Eagles entered halftime up 46-7.
 
Barriere's third touchdown of the day came in the third quarter on a 15-yard pass to Blake Gobel, capping a nine play, 75-yard drive.
 
Harrison extended the lead to 56-7 with a 38-yard field goal with 1:34 left in the third quarter, and the final score came from Justice Jackson on a two-yard rush with 5:50 left to play.
 
Central Washington scored the final touchdown of the game on a one-yard rush with 28 seconds left to play.
 
ADDITIONAL GAME NOTES:
 
Hewa-Baddege, Brown and Williams Make Starting Debuts Versus Central Washington
 
A pair of tackles – one on each side of the ball – and a linebacker made the first starts of their careers against Central Washington on Sept. 11. Redshirt freshman Matthew Hewa Baddege started at offensive tackle, while another freshman, Matthew Brown, started at defensive tackle. In addition, Ahamani Williams made his first career start at linebacker.
 
Hewa Baddege is from Port Coquitlam, B.C., and Brown is out of Hoquiam (Wash.) High School. Williams is a 2020 graduate from Skyline High School in Vancouver, Wash., and is the son of former Eagle All-America safety Julian Williams.
 
The Eagles entered the season with 18 players on each side of the ball with starting experience, including 182 total starts by offensive players and 136 by the defense for a total of 318. Among players listed as starters on this week's two-deep for the UNLV game, all have previously started games.
 
In the abbreviated 2020-21 season, 20 players made the initial starts of their careers – 12 on defense and eight on offense. Eastern entered that year with a total of 20 players returning with 191 games of starting experience, including 10 players on defense with 86 starts and 10 on offense with 105 starts.
 
Here are the current starts by EWU players:
 
Current Starts on Defense (158 starts by 19 players): Calin Criner 21, Tre Weed 20, Jack Sendelbach 19, Mitchell Johnson 19, Darrien Sampson 12, Joshua Jerome 9, Ty Graham 8, Jacob Newsom 7, Darreon Moore 7, Brock Harrison 6, Marlon Jones Jr. 5, Anthany Smith 6, Keshaun King 4, Cale Lindsay 3, Debore'ae McClain 3, Caleb Davis 3, Ely Doyle 3, Jusstis Warren 1, Matthew Brown 1, Ahmani Williams 1.
 
Current Starts on Offense (204 starts by 19 players): Tristen Taylor 49, Eric Barriere 31, Andrew Boston 26, Johnny Edwards IV 12, Conner Crist 11, Talolo Limu-Jones 11, Freddie Roberson 10, Dylan Ingram 9, Wyatt Musser 9, Matt Shook 8, Tamarick Pierce 6, Wyatt Hansen 7, Anthony Stell Jr. 4, Dennis Merritt 4, Brad Godwin 2, Efton Chism III 2, Blake Gobel 1, Gunner Talkington 1, Matthew Hewa Baddege 1.
 
 
Eagles Now 61-10 on the Red Turf with Record 18-Game Winning Streak
 
Having won all five of its regular season home games in 2019 and all eight in 2018, Eastern was 3-0 at home in the 2020-21 season to give the Eagles a school-record 18-straight wins at Roos Field. The Eagles entered the 2021 season as one of three teams with the longest active home winning streaks in FBS with 18 consecutive victories.
 
The other schools who entered the season with 17-game home winning streaks included James Madison, which extended its streak to 19 with a 55-7 win over Maine on Sept. 11. North Dakota also has a 17-game streak and plays its home opener Sept. 18 versus Drake.
 
Eastern is now 61-10 (85.9 percent) overall at "The Inferno" 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.
 
Eastern has lost just six regular season games at "The Inferno" – 47-6 (88.7 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).
 
During Eastern's 18-game winning streak at Roos Field, the Eagles have had just three games decided by less than double figures and all but four decided by at least 21 points. In fact, Eastern has more than doubled its opponents 940-407. The margin of victory in 14 of the 18 games has been at least 21 points, nine of them have been by at least 30, four by 40 or more and a pair have been won by at least 50 points (52 and 53, both versus Cal Poly).

UP NEXT: Eastern Washington concludes non-conference play in its first-ever meeting with Western Illinois on Saturday, Sept. 18. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Pacific time from Hanson Field in Macomb, Ill. Streaming information is to come.
 
On Dennis Merritt and the Run-Game: "Dennis Merritt knows one speed whether it's practice or games. It's always good to have to bring him back rather than rev him up, and he's the one we're leaning on right now with Tamarick Pierce out. He's a senior with the most experience in that room. Justice Jackson also went for over 100-yards and it's not often you have two backs go for over 100-yards. When you have multiple backs carry that load, you're a better team because of it. Collectively that group, coached by Aaron Prier, did a tremendous job and it was fun to see. Again, usually the reason why your run game is that successful is because you're mixing it up, so coach Ian Shoemaker did a good job after the first couple of series of big plays and we mixed it up enough to keep them off balance."
 
On the Defense: "Scoring on defense, just like blocking a punt, usually equates to wins and it did today. When you're in the plus at Eastern, we're 59-0 when we win the turnover battle. That's something we hammer ever week that's very vital to us. It might not mean much to anybody else, but that's a special number and record that can't be taken away from us. We started to find our footing midway through the first half. When you have high energy and great execution with a great football IQ from pre-snap to post-snap you'll fall into those plays. Coach Eti Ena, along with coach Allen Brown, Justin Mullgrav and coach Jeff Copp, put our players in position to play well from front to back. We'll look at it, but we're 2-0 and we're thankful for it."
 
On Connor Crist's Touchdown after the Fumble: "You have to give and take a little bit. I'm not excited about the fumble, but the fact that we fell on it is something we preach day-in and day-out – follow the football." "I would've high-fived him afterwards had he spiked the football because some things just don't happen often. It's an offensive lineman's dream who never gets in the paper, and now it's spotted all over the paper for scoring a touchdown."
 
Importance on Game Reps: "Two things come to mind, we came out unscathed as far as injuries are concerned, but for longevity you have to build competitive depth. At a few positions, there are some drop-offs, so game reps, not practice reps, are only going to help those guys going forward. You have to earn it no matter who you are or who you play, and those players did for a quarter and a half. It wasn't mistake-free football, but it only enhances the opportunity to nurture and grow competitive depth."