CHENEY, Wash. — The Eastern Washington Eagles battled through all four quarters but the No. 4-ranked Idaho Vandals held on late in a thriller at Roos Field on Saturday, defeating the Eags, 44-36. Eastern's offense barely skipped a beat despite playing without starting quarterback
Kekoa Visperas, earning 226 yards on the ground and 21 first downs against the top-performing defense in the conference.
"We knew probably mid-week that Kekoa might not be able to go, so we prepared accordingly," said head coach Aaron Best. "The stats may not be flashy from a pass standpoint, but there aren't a ton of 'guts' stats on there… we maximized our opportunities, I thought, on offense."
Jared Taylor, a transfer out of Feather River College in California, earned the start behind center but the Eagles also mixed in fellow junior college transfer Michael Wortham in a red-hot first half that included passing and rushing touchdowns from both. Taylor finished the game with 92 yards passing and 1 TD, doing the majority of his damage with his legs, piling up 121 yards and two scores on the ground. Wortham went 3-for-5 passing for 34 yards and a touchdown while adding 54 and another touchdown rushing, including an electric 35-yard scamper late in the 2nd.
"I think everybody else found out what we already knew," said Best about Taylor's effort. "You never get to that point if they don't play. Those are things that are not really secrets, those are things we see every day, it's just not on display on Saturdays. He's gutsy, he's not scared, he extends plays… a phenomenal effort (by our offense)."
Idaho was led by all-conference running back Anthony Woods, who rumbled for a career-best five touchdowns, earning 183 net yards on 24 carries — he would've had over 200 but was credited with a long negative rush on a botched shotgun snap. Backup halfback Nick Romano added 129 yards on 18 rushes.
"Their run game was really well-versed. It was a tale of two halves on defense. We held things together but make no excuses, they (Idaho) took it to us," Best continued. "I told them after the game, that was a hell of a game, a hell of an effort."
After Idaho made it 7-0 on their first drive of the game, the Eagles reached deep in their pockets for a trick play to make it 7-7. Wortham lined up alongside Taylor in the backfield and caught a lateral to the right flat before floating it up and over the Vandal defense for a double-pass to receiver Anthony Stell Jr. It was Wortham's first career passing touchdown; he had scored twice rushing coming into Saturday's contest.
The Eagles made it 14-7 early in the 2nd with a perfectly-timed screen pass to Justice Jackson, with the 34-yard conversion marking a pair of career-firsts; the first reception TD for Jackson and first passing for Taylor.
Another Idaho touchdown — the only Vandal score that came through the air — made it 14-14 with just over 7 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, the Eagles marched 12 plays for 75 yards, capped by a highlight reel-worthy second effort from Wortham to break several tackles and find the north endzone.
The Vandals answered once more, running an efficient two-minute offense to tie it up headed into half as Woods found paydirt for the second of his five touchdowns.
Eastern methodically pounded the ball the length of the field to open the third quarter, regaining a 28-21 lead when Taylor punched it in from four yards out to cap a 15-play, 75-yard drive that included only two attempted passes.
All-conference return man Jermaine Jackson took the wind out of the sails right away, taking the ensuing kickoff 84 yards down the left sideline to the Eastern 7-yard-line. Woods scored on the next play to knot it up at 28-28, then Idaho converted a 38-yard field goal after a failed fourth-down conversion by the Eagles to put the Vandals up 31-28 with 4:26 left in the 3rd.
Woods scored his fourth of the afternoon on the first play of the 4th to make it 37-28 (Idaho missed the PAT), then took off down the middle of the field for a 60-yard score on Idaho's next possession to make it a 44-28 game.
Taylor and the Eagles made it interesting as the junior out of North Lakewood, Wash. tiptoed down the right sideline to score from 15 yards out with 6:37 left to play, but that was the last time the Eagles touched the ball. Idaho converted four first downs down the stretch to ice the game and the victory.
Efton Chism kept his receiving streak alive, pushing it to ## games with 5 receptions for 31 yards to lead the Eags. Taylor and Wortham led the ground attack, while running back Tuna Altahir added 48 yards on 10 carries.
It was a three-way tie atop the Eagle defensive leaderboard as linebackers Jaren Banks, Ben Allen and Derek Tommasini each recorded 7 tackles. Defensive back Cage Schenck secured his first career interception in the first quarter.
The Eagles fall to 2-3 overall on the season and 1-1 in Big Sky play, with each of their losses coming to either an FBS opponent (Fresno State) or top-5 FCS foe (#2 North Dakota State, #4 Idaho).
Up Next
The Eagles will have a week to rest and recover as they are off next weekend before returning to action on October 14 as they'll head to Pocatello to take on Idaho State. EWU's next home game is Oct. 21 against Weber State as the university will celebrate its 100th Homecoming. Get tickets at goeags.com.
ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
Eastern Washington University Athletics sponsors 14 intercollegiate sports, six for men and eight for women, both as learning opportunities for its most athletically talented students and as an enhancement to student and community life. Eastern is affiliated with Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is a member of the Big Sky Conference, an association of 10 regional schools with comparable enrollments and academic goals.
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