Gamebook

For the first time since its season opener, the Eastern Washington University football team is back in the win column. The Eagles forced five turnovers and amassed 358 total yards of offense in a 17-10 victory at Cal Poly tonight (Oct. 22) at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
 
Both the Mustangs and the Eagles entered the game in search of their first conference victories and sported identical records. EWU is now 2-5 overall and 1-3 in Big Sky Conference play, while Cal Poly drops to 1-6 and 0-4. The Mustangs are led by former EWU head coach Beau Baldwin, and tonight marks the ninth-straight victory over Cal Poly for Eastern Washington.
 
Eastern won the turnover battle, 5-3, which included interceptions from Ely Doyle, Keshaun King, and Demetrius Crosby Jr. and fumble recoveries from Matt Brown and Kentrell Williams Jr.
 
After Cal Poly struck first with a 57-yard rushing touchdown, Eastern Washington scored 10 unanswered points to take a 10-7 lead at the end of the first. The only score in the second quarter came from a 33-yard field goal attempt from the Mustangs with seven seconds remaining, making it a 10-10 game at the half. The third quarter saw each team turn the ball over twice and neither team score, entering the fourth quarter tied.
 
With 8:54 left, EWU took the lead when Gunner Talkington found Freddie Roberson for a 20-yard completion to the endzone and the Eagles pulled ahead 17-10 for the final score. Since 2010, Eastern has now won 30 games when trailing or tied in the fourth quarter.
 
"It felt great. Seems like everyone down here gets weird and wonky no matter what year it is. It seemed like they (turnovers) came in bunches the second half. We didn't have one in the first half. I challenged the guys at halftime to find one or two (turnovers) and we found five. We needed every one of them to be able get it done. We found a way and I'm so proud for these guys and for these coaches. It's been since Labor Day weekend since we felt this feeling. It's a win and we will take it," said head coach Aaron Best. "We have a lot of respect for Coach Baldwin and all those guys over there. We've spent a lot of time with them over the years. It's unfortunate that someone had to lose in a situation like this, 17-10. I wouldn't have guessed it would have been, 17-10, but it was." 
 
Justice Jackson led the team in rushing yards with 91 on 18 carries, followed by Tuna Altahir who had 61 on 15 carries. Efton Chism III hauled in 57 yards on nine catches plus a touchdown, while Freddie Roberson added 64 on seven catches and a touchdown as well.
 
Defensively, Ely Doyle (six tackles, interception) and Keshaun King (five tackles, interception) led the way.
 
Gunner Talkington completed 21 of his 29 pass attempts, throwing for 170 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. He also added 12 yards on the ground for 182 yards of total offense.
 
As a team, Eastern amassed 358 yards of total offense, including 170 through the air and 188 on the ground. They were 7-for-15 on third down (2-for-3 on fourth), compared to Cal Poly who was 2-of-12. The Mustangs also compiled 238 yards of total offense, 118 receiving and the other 120 on the ground.
 
Eastern Washington is back at home next week to host Portland State at Roos Field on Saturday, Oct. 29. Kickoff is set for 1:02 p.m. and will be broadcast on SWX and ESPN+. Tickets are available on GoEags.com/tickets.
 
Scoring Summary and Game Details
 
After both teams went three-and-out on their opening drives, Cal Poly struck first on a 57-yard rushing touchdown to take an early 7-0 lead with 11:03 left to play in the first. The drive took just one play and lasted 12 seconds.
 
Eastern Washington responded on its next drive when Gunner Talkington hit Efton Chism III on a 32-yard catch-and-run. After the kick from Wyatt Hawkins was successful, EWU tied the game 7-7. The drive was eight plays for 73 yards, taking 2:50 off the clock. The score was Chism's sixth of the season and the 16th of his career.
 
With 25 seconds left in the first quarter, Hawkins connected on a 34-yard field goal attempt to give EWU its first lead of the day, 10-7. The scoring drive lasted 13 plays for 66 yards.
 
Cal Poly attempted to the tie the contest with a 42-yard field goal attempt, but it missed wide left.
 
With 1:10 left to play in the second quarter, Ely Doyle secured the first interception of his career. However, it was quickly erased on the next play when the Mustangs got the ball back with an interception of their own. Cal Poly capitalized, and made a 33-yard field goal with seven seconds left in the second quarter to tie the game 10-10 at the half.
 
Eastern Washington threw its second interception of the game on the first play of the third quarter. But the tables turned again, and when the Mustangs were facing 4^th-and-7 on EWU's 31-yard line, Keshaun King came up with an interception in the endzone. It was the fourth interception of King's career and the first of the season.
 
The Eagles could not capitalize on the interception, but it wasn't long until they got the ball back. After a muffed-exchange by Cal Poly's offense, Matthew Brown recovered a fumble to give EWU the ball back on Cal Poly's 30-yard line. It was the first recovery of Brown's career. Eastern then set up a 35-yard field goal attempt, but the kick was blocked.
 
At the end of the third, the game remained tied 10-10.
 
With 8:54 left to go, the Eagles retook the lead for good. Talkington found Freddie Roberson for a 20-yard completion, and EWU pulled ahead 17-10 after the extra point. The drive was nine plays and 75 yards, taking 3:41 off of the clock.
 
There would be three more turnovers in the game, and two were in favor of Eastern Washington. Conner O'Farrell forced a fumble that was recovered by Kentrell Williams Jr., and Demetrius Crosby Jr. grabbed an interception with 5:11 left to play in the fourth. After that interception, the Eagles did not give the ball back to Cal Poly, securing the 17-10 win. Eastern had the ball for 31:57 of the game compared to 20:24 for the Mustangs.
 
Additional Comments by Head Coach Aaron Best:
 On Facing Multiple Mustang Quarterbacks

"I think Coach Baldwin has done a great job with his guys. They've played a total of four quarterbacks and a couple of wildcat guys in situations to keep us off balance. We made adjustments and we tackled pretty well overall. I thought we tackled physical and got a couple balls out when they did throw the ball even though they didn't throw that much. When they did, we capitalized. It was a little bit of a field position battle after halftime. Both teams came out and there were errors on both sides in special teams. At the end of the day, we scored more points and we're leaving with a victory."

On Creating Turnovers in the Second Half

"It was 10-10 for a better part of the second half. To win we have to score more and we gave up zero points in the second half and 10 in the game. It shows what we're capable of doing when we play cleaner and create turnovers and give it back to the offense. We didn't capitalize on as many of those turnovers as we would have liked. A lot of them were in between the 40s. We just didn't capitalize as much. We have the ability to be good on whether it's at home or on the road on defense. [The defense] showed what we have been hearing from them all season. We played a great ball game on defense and on offense we scored enough points to get the job done."