CHENEY, Wash. — There was no lack of fight on the sidelines Saturday afternoon at Roos Field from the Eagles. Eastern Washington football came up short against No. 2 Montana State, 42-28, dropping their third-straight Big Sky game. Eastern is now 1-4 in conference and 2-7 overall.
"Knowing Jared [Taylor] has played in games and played well. He's not always going to be exciting, but effective. He played really well, besides one mistake and it probably didn't cost us the game at the end of the day.," head coach Aaron Best said of Jared Taylor starting at quarterback. "The guys believe in each other and I know they do no matter who is in. We had a fourth-string right tackle last week and a second-string quarterback this week; after we got the news this morning, no one batted an eye. We played to our quarterbacks strengths and we played well enough to give ourselves a chance to be victorious. It was 35-28 after the pick by Ahmani Williams. We couldn't get a new set of downs to try and even up the score against a really good team."
The Bobcats seemed poised to run away with the game early, jumping out to a 14-0 lead. EWU halted the momentum with a Jared Taylor-to-Efton Chism III touchdown drive.
After trailing by 14 at halftime (28-14), Eastern came out of the gates with momentum, scoring 14 unanswered points to tie the game at 28. Tuna Altahir had a rushing and receiving touchdown to power the comeback for the Eagles.
Despite the effort, the Bobcats continued to get big plays from its offense, scoring on a 76 yard run and a 61 yard pass to separate from Eastern.
Eastern rushed 39 times for 246 yards, while Montana St. put up 328 yards on 43 carries.
Taylor passed for a career-best 144 yards, completing 20-of-27 passes and two touchdowns. He had a career-high 25 carries for 80 yards as well.
Altahir rushed 12 times for 74 yards - 6.0 yards per carry - adding two catches for six yards.
"I'm proud of the team, especially in the third quarter; we did a lot of good things in that quarter on both sides of the ball," Best added. "Against a top-5 team, either home or away, you have to be positive on turnovers and we were minus one. That short field we gave the defense created a lot of momentum for [Montana St.]. We battled back and were good with sudden change for whatever reason. It sparks us into playing better."
Scoring Summary
Montana St. got into the endzone first, scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run, part of an 11 play, 87 yards drive. Following an Eagle fumble, the Bobcats struck again on a 19-yard TD pass to build a 14-0 advantage.
Eastern looked to respond on the following drive as Jared Taylor began with a 12-yard completion to Efton Chism III. Michael Wortham took the direct snap and carried the ball 17 yards to the MSU 8-yard line. Two plays later, Chism caught the over-the-shoulder pass from Taylor to put Eastern on the board. They trailed 14-7 with 57 seconds left in the first.
The Bobcats scored again on their next drive, getting a 20-yard rush from Tommy Mellot. MSU was now up 21-7.
EWU had the counter with Wortham, this time on the ground, as he ripped off a 75-yard touchdown. The Eagles were down 21-14 and 11:35 on the clock.
MSU grinded out a 16 play, 70 yard drive that lasted 9:33 minutes, scoring on a 4-yard touchdown run. The Bobcats went into the half with a 28-14 lead.
On the opening drive of the second half, Eastern began to move the ball down the field. Taylor found Wesley Garrett for 19 yards to midfield. Rotating to Wortham at quarterback, he connected with JP Murphy for 18 yards and put the Eagles inside the 5-yard line. Taylor, back in at QB, passed to Tuna Altahir, sneaking out of the backfield, for the walk-in touchdown. EWU trimmed the lead down to 28-21 at the 9:01 mark.
Altahir stayed the offensive focus on the Eagles' next drive, racing for a 33 yards and into Bobcat territory. Taylor then carried the ball 3 times to move Eastern closer to the endzone. It was Altahir to finish the drive off, taking the ball right up the middle for an 11-yard score. EWU tied the game at 28 and 1:26 on the clock.
The tie did not last long, as Mellot ran for a 76-yard touchdown to put MSU back in front, 35-28 in the fourth quarter. The Bobcats added another touchdown with a 61-yard pass to go up 42-28 and 3:15 left in the game. The score stayed the same until the end of the game.
Eag Notes
- Efton Chism III caught his 33rd career touchdown, passing Shaq Hill and moving into a three-way tie for third on the all-time list with Nicholas Edwards and Brandon Kaufman. Chism finished with 9 catches for 78 yards and the score in the game.
- Michael Wortham had a career-high 92 yards on 2 carries. His 75 yard touchdown was his 2nd rushing touchdown of the season.
- Eastern rushed for 200+ yards for the second-straight game and sixth time this season.
- Ahmani Williams grabbed his first career interception in the fourth quarter. He finished with 2 tackles in the game.
- Tuna Altahir scored his third rushing and second receiving touchdown of the season. It's Altahir's fifth career game with both a rushing and receiving touchdown.
- Brock Harrison recorded his third sack of the season. He has 9.5 for his career.
- Derek Ganter Jr. recorded his third straight double-digit tackle game, finishing with 11.
- Matthew Brown matched his career-best with 10 tackles.
- Montana State won the turnover battle, 2-1, getting an interception and a fumble recovery.
Up Next
Eastern Washington is on the road next Saturday (Nov. 9) to play Northern Colorado at 11 a.m. Pacific Time.
Season and single game tickets for the 2024 football season are now available! Ticket packages can be purchased online via your Paciolan account, over the phone at 509-359-6059, or by emailing tickets@ewu.edu.
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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