CHENEY, Wash. — After a year off, the Eastern Washington-Montana rivalry will be renewed this weekend at Roos Field. Eastern hosts the Grizzlies for its first Big Sky game of the season on Saturday (Sept. 28) with kickoff at 5 p.m. Pacific Time. 

The game will be broadcast by Scripps Sports and the feed will be picked up by SWX locally. The game can also be streamed live on ESPN+. Hear the action live from Roos Field on 700 ESPN and the Varsity App with the voices of the Eagles, Larry Weir and Paul Sorensen. 

EWU enters the game 1-3 and has dropped the last three games, with two on the road. Montana brings in a 3-1 record, and ranked No. 8 in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25, while being slated No. 9 in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll.  

Last Time Out
Eastern Washington dropped to 1-3 on the season after falling to FBS opponent Nevada last Saturday. The Wolf Pack opened with a 14-0 point lead in the first quarter, and were up 21-3 at halftime. The Wolf Pack used its ground attack to produce 320 rushing yards, with a 7.1 yards per carry average. EWU scored two touchdowns late, but Nevada had built a sizable lead to cruise to the 49-16 win. 

EWU's offense had 170 yards on the ground with career-bests from Jared Taylor (73 yards) and Malik Dotson (67 yards). Both teams had an interception in the game. Kentrell Williams Jr. recorded his third career pick on a hail mary pass from the Wolf Pack to close the first half. Michael Wortham connected with Noah Cronquist for his third career touchdown throw, on a career-long 42 yard pass. Nevada balanced its offense with 214 passing yards. 

50th matchup against the Griz
Eastern Washington has a storied history against Montana, with the teams meeting 49 times, making Saturday's matchup the 50th between the two programs. The Griz hold a 30-18-1 advantage over the Eags. Eastern is 11-11 against Montana at home, including 6-0 since the Red Turf was installed prior to the 2010 season. 

The two teams last met on the Red in 2021, when EWU was ranked No. 6 and the Griz No. 4. The Eagles rallied in the fourth quarter with 24 points to earn a 34-28 win over Montana. Eric Barriere threw for 422 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Talolo Limu-Jones caught 11 passes for 231 yards. Eastern and Montana will play for the first time since 2022, where the Griz dominated the Eagles, 63-7 in Missoula.

Almost to 3000
Efton Chism III is poised to surpass 3000 career receiving yards, as the senior currently has 2947. He caught 11 passes for 85 yards against Nevada this past week. Chism looks to move past Tony Brooks (3013) sixth on the all-time receiving yards list. 

This season, Chism leads Big Sky with 406 receiving yards, 39 receptions and 4 touchdowns. Chism leads the FCS with 9.8 receptions per game, while being ranked 3rd in yards and 4th in receiving touchdowns. The Monroe, Wash. native is currently second in program history with 5.59 receptions per game, with 265 total receptions that also ranks second. Chism's 28 receiving touchdowns is seventh in program history. 

Nearly Mistake Free
Eastern has committed only 2 turnovers through four games this season, tying for first in the Big Sky and 11th in the FCS. Kentrell Williams Jr. snatched his 2nd interception of the season against Nevada, but Kekoa Visperas also had an interception in the game. 

Cleaning up the Act
After committing 17 penalties for 220 yards in the first two games of the season, EWU committed only 7 for 85 yards in the past two games. Nevada was called for 8 penalties, totaling 95 yards last week. 

Emerging Stars in the Secondary
Eastern secondary is developing into a strong unit, led by sophomore safety Derek Ganter Jr., redshirt-junior corner DaJean Wells and redshirt-junior Kentrell Williams Jr. Ganter Jr. leads the team with 29.0 total tackles, including 20 solo, putting the sophomore in a tie for 3rd on the Big Sky tackle leaderboard. He matched his career-best in tackles against Nevada, tallying 8 total for the second consecutive game. Wells leads the conference with 7 pass breakups this season, adding 12.0 total tackles - 8 solo. He recorded 2 tackles and a pass break up against the Wolf Pack. Williams Jr. added to his interception against Nevada with a career-high 9 tackles, getting 5 solo. He is second on the team with 24.0 tackles.

Transfers Making an Impact
Junior wide receiver Noah Cronquist is in his first season at Eastern after transferring from Moorpark College and his role in the offense is growing. Cronquist is 2nd on the team with 137 receiving yards and is tied for 3rd with 8 receptions. In the last two games, Cronquist has 2 touchdown catches and 132 yards. Graduate transfer McKel Broussard arrived in Cheney from UTEP and is racking up the tackles in the secondary. Broussard is tied for 4th on the team with 17.0 tackles, 11 solo. He has 1.0 tackle for loss and two pass breakups. 
 

---

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.

FOLLOW THE EAGLES
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram