CHENEY, Wash. — The beginning of the 2024 season is now less than two weeks away and Eastern Washington football is keeping up the intensity at Roos Field. Eastern was out Sunday afternoon for the team's first scrimmage of fall camp, putting the offense and defense up against each other for an hour and a half.

"This [scrimmage] was a little bit of an elongated session; we ran about 70-plus plays," head coach Aaron Best explained. "I think what we have shown up to this point is exciting, but not surprising to the staff. We're playing different quarterbacks and personnel so it's not going to be as smooth as you normally want it to be."

The defense set the tone early as Alphonse Oywak pulled in an early interception in front of the defensive sideline near midfield.

"We challenge the older guys at every position in that just because you started last year; we are not going to roll out the same lineup. [Alphonse] made a great step today and we are looking for consistency," Best explained. "Every guy on our team can make plays. We want them to make those plays consistently, especially when the situations get more difficult."

The offense's response came from Michael Wortham, who ripped off a lightning 95-yard touchdown run. 

Redshirt-freshman Aidan Carter put together the offense's second touchdown drive, completing two passes to Boden Gardner to set up a redzone opportunity. Carter then found Riley Rudolfo,  for a 16-yard touchdown, shedding a tackle on the way. 

As the scrimmage progressed, the defense continued to play aggressive, bending and not breaking as the offense put up three field goals - two from Jackson Cleaver and one from Soren McKee. 

Freshman wide receiver Ayden Gutierrez earned a highlight with a difficult catch on the sideline, setting up one of the field goals. 

Newcomer Marceese Yetts made the most of his opportunity in the backfield, slashing for a 42 yard run and setting the offense up in the red zone. Redshirt-freshman Nate Bell cashed in with a four-yard touchdown run. 

Best elaborated more on the fall camp schedule and giving players reps.

"You have to listen to your coordinators and we have those conversations in July to get a feel for the experience, not only of juniors and seniors with game reps, but we have a ton of sophomores with reps. Seeing them with reps is great, but seeing them in games is better. We have to get guys ready to get to the gate to play and there's two scrimmages and 22 practices. It's great to see guys shine in the scrimmages, but those other 22 practices probably carry more weight."
 

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The Eagles open the 2024 regular season on Aug. 29 vs. Monmouth! Season 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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