GAME BOOK

The Eastern Washington University football team played host to Portland State this afternoon (Oct. 29) at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. The Eagles trimmed down a 28-point deficit to just three points with 3:49 left to play, but could not complete the comeback and lost 38-35.
 
With the loss, Eastern drops to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in Big Sky Conference play. The Vikings improve to 3-6 overall and 2-3 in conference action. Following today's deficit, EWU snaps a streak of 15-straight seasons with a winning record and has been eliminated from the Football Championship Subdivision playoff conversation. The Vikings also snap a five-game losing streak to the Eagles, as the series moves to 22-21-1 in EWU's favor.
 
Portland State scored on its first four drives to take a 28-0 lead. A 62-yard touchdown run by Justice Jackson got the Eagles on the board, but the Vikings would score once more before the half to take a 35-7 lead after two quarters. The Eagles cooled the Vikings down in the third quarter, as a 62-yard rushing touchdown from Justice Jackson was the only score of the frame. Heading into the fourth, EWU trailed 35-14.
 
The momentum continued into the fourth quarter when Tuna Altahir rushed for five yards into the endzone, cutting the lead down to 35-21 and outscoring the Vikings 14-0. PSU snapped the run with a 40-yard field goal with 9:51 left to play, extending the lead to 38-21. With 8:22 to play, the Eagles made it a 10-point game after Gunner Talkington found Freddie Roberson for an 11-yard receiving touchdown. Talkington then hit Nolan Ulm with a 30-yard strike to the endzone and the Eagles were within three with 3:49 left to play. From there, EWU tried for the onside kick that was recovered by the Vikings, and Eastern failed to get the ball back, resulting in a 38-35 loss.
 
"It's been five games in a row where we've given up a score in the first five plays. That's deflating every week, and when you do it over, and over, and over, that's tough. It puts you behind. They want the ball, and we want the ball because we both want to get up. It's hard when you're averaging 10-plus yards per play in the first half. We had a total of 25 or 28 plays in the first half, and we were thoroughly embarrassed in the first half. That was a really bad first half of football that we put on display for our fans. We were outplayed in all arenas outside of punting. I thought Nick Kokich had a good day and all of his kicks were in the first half. I feel like we pinned him inside the 20 a few different times, but it didn't matter at that point when we pushed him back," said head coach Aaron Best. "All three phases, we were outplayed and outcoached and outdone in the first half. When you dig a 35-7 deficit, things like that are hard to overcome. It went better in the second half but it's easier to play from behind and we've done that too much this year. It's far too frequent. At some point, we need to play in front. We need to start faster. We haven't started fast in terms of consecutive drives on both sides of the ball."
 
Talkington threw for a career-high 394 yards and also added 48 on the ground for a career-best 442 yards of total offense. He completed 36 of his 60 pass attempts with one interception, throwing three touchdown passes.
 
Freddie Roberson led the team with 145 receiving yards, his sixth career game with over 100-plus yards receiving, and now has over 2,000 receiving yards in his career. He also scored a touchdown and had nine catches. Efton Chism III also had nine catches for 84 yards. Austin York scored his first career touchdown as an Eagle. Wyatt Hawkins was four-for-four on extra point attempts, and Nick Kokich punted three times for an average of 48.7.
 
On the ground, Justice Jackson rushed six times for 73 yards and a touchdown. Jaren Banks led the way defensively with a career-high 11 tackles, and Keshaun King followed with 10, also a career-best.
 
The Eagles totaled 564 yards of offense compared to 628 for the Vikings – 427 of which from PSU came on the ground to just 170 for EWU. Eastern had 394 passing yards to PSU's 201. EWU had 29 first downs and Portland State had 31. Additionally, the Vikings controlled the ball for 39:27 compared to 20:33 for the Eagles. Eastern was 10-for-16 on third down and held the Vikings to just 3-for-12.
 
Scoring Summary and Game Details
 
Portland State scored the first time it had the ball on a 51-yard rushing touchdown. It took just three plays, 78 yards, and 1:16 to take a 7-0 lead after the PAT.
 
On PSU's next drive, The Vikings extended the lead to 14-0 following another rushing touchdown, this time for three yards. The drive took 3:12 off of the clock and took eight plays and 84-yards for the 14-0 lead.
 
The Vikings ended the first quarter with a 21-0 lead. Portland State lined up for a field goal attempt, but had a successful fake and rushed the ball 11-yards for another score. The drive ticked 6:19 off the clock, lasting 90 yards and 13 plays.  
 
Portland State scored on all three of its drives in the first quarter, and EWU punted on both of its.
 
The Eagles came on to try a 48-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter with 12:31 on the clock, but missed wide right on the scoring opportunity.
 
Portland State scored for the fourth time on its fourth drive with its fourth rushing touchdown. The score came on an eight-yard rush on a drive that took 3:47 off of the clock, lasting nine plays for 70 yards, pulling ahead 28-0.
 
After PSU punted for the first time, the Eagles took over and got on the board, and it took just one play and 12 seconds. Justice Jackson rushed 62-yards for the touchdown and after Wyatt Hawkins' PAT was good, the Eagles cut the lead down to 28-7. It was the longest career rush for Jackson, marking his fifth career touchdown and the second of the season.
 
The Vikings immediately responded with their first receiving score of the day on a nine-yard strike. The drive took six plays for 78 yards, taking 2:07 off of the clock for a 35-7 lead at the half.
 
Eastern Washington came out with authority to start the second half, as Gunner Talkington hit Austin York for six yards and his first career touchdown as an Eagle. After Hawkins' kick, EWU cut the deficit down to 35-14. The drive was nine plays for 74 yards. The score was set up by a 16-yard run from Davante Smith, his longest career rush. That would be the lone score of the quarter, as EWU trailed 35-14 heading into the fourth. The Eagles outgained PSU 203 yards-to-86 yards during the frame.
 
Eastern Washington continued its momentum when Tuna Altahir capped a 15-play, 80-yard drive with a five-yard rushing touchdown. It was his third career score and the second of the season. After Hawkins' PAT, EWU made it a 35-21 game and continued on a 14-0 run.
 
With 9:51 remaining, PSU snapped EWU's run with a 40-yard field goal to extend the lead back out to 38-21.
 
Eagles pulled within 10 points with 8:22 left to play when Talkington hit Freddie Roberson for 11 yards. After Hawkins' fourth extra point went through the uprights, EWU trailed 38-28. It was Roberson's 16^th career touchdown and the sixth of the season.
 
Gunner Talkington would throw an interception that allowed PSU to take over on the EWU 21-yard line, but would get the ball back after Demetrius Crosby Jr. recovered a fumble on the EWU-16. The Eagles would capitalize, and Talkington found Nolan Ulm for a 30-yard receiving touchdown to cut the deficit to 38-35 with 3:49 to go. It was Ulm's fourth career touchdown and third of the season.
 
EWU opted for the onside kick which Portland State recovered, and the Eagles did not get the ball back, resulting in the 38-35 loss.