CHENEY, Wash. — The game had big plays, the energy was up, but Eastern Washington football ended the night just short of a victory. Eastern fell to Cal Poly, 31-27 on Roos Field Saturday night after a back-and-forth battle between two Big Sky teams. EWU falls to 0-2 in conference and 1-4 overall. The Mustangs improve to 1-1 in league and 3-2 overall.
"I thought we came out of half well with a ton of fire and passion. We just couldn't capitalize," head coach Aaron Best said. "This one was about not capitalizing on turnovers. We didn't execute at the level that needs to be done and is expected to be done. It was a total team non-capitalization in a lot of areas. They made the last play to get it done, and we could not go the length of the field to get a touchdown."
The game featured six lead changes, but was never tied.
The Eagles held a 27-21 lead in the third quarter, but 10 straight points from Poly caused EWU's advantage to slip away. Poly scored late in the fourth quarter to retake the lead for good.
Eastern forced three turnovers, with two interceptions and one fumble recovered.
Nate Bell completed 23-of-37(62.1%) passes for 253 yards, tossing two touchdowns, while throwing two interceptions. Kevin Allen III rushed 15 times for 49 yards and one touchdown.
The Mustangs' rushing attack was difficult to control, and they finished with 289 yards on 41 attempts. On the defensive side, Poly registered five sacks and limited the Eagles to 87 rushing yards.
Poly had a total yards advantage of 428 to 340 over EWU.
"You tip your hat to [Cal Poly]. They kept going to the well of their run game on the upside," Best added. "We didn't show up consistently enough. We had a great first half with three takeaways and at least one fourth-down stop. We had a PAT blocked and two missed field goals. There were too many three-and-outs early in the first half. We were trying to crawl out of that."
Eag Notes
- David Cabrera caught his 1st career touchdown, finishing with 2 catches for 56 yards.
- Jamai East earned his 2nd career touchdown and led the Eagles with 65 yards receiving on 4 receptions.
- Nate Bell passed for his 13th and 14th career touchdowns.
- Dishawn Misa earned his 2nd career forced fumble, while Bryce Smith recovered his first career fumble. Misa finished with 5 tackles and tied for the team lead with 1.0 sacks. Smith was second on the team with 7 total tackles, with 6 solo.
- Jaylon Jenkins grabbed his 7th career interception in the first quarter. He had 6 tackles and 1 pass breakup.
- Ambrose Marsh made his 2nd interception of the season and 4th of his career. He had 6 total tackles and 1 pass breakup against Poly.
- Kevin Allen III had a career-best 33 receiving yards and led the team with 5 receptions. Allen scored his 6th career rushing touchdown.
- Jaxon Bell had a career-best 69-yard kickoff return. Bell finished with 4 returns for 137 yards. He added 2 punt returns for 17 yards.
- McKel Broussard led Eastern with 8 total tackles, making 5 solo.
- Neither team scored points off of turnovers.
- Eastern committed only 1 penalty for 5 yards in the game. Cal Poly had only 2 pnealties for 30 yards.
- EWU had the slight edge in time of possession over the Mustangs, 31:57 to 28:03.
Scoring Summary
Cal Poly opened the scoring with a 31-yard touchdown from Anthony Gribsy Jr. to Ray Hall. The Mustangs led 7-0 less than three minutes into the game.
After struggling to find a rhythm on offense on the team's first drives, Nate Bell stepped up his effort. After an 11-yard completion to Jamai East, Bell delivered a perfect pass to David Cabrera for a 35-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was blocked, but EWU trailed 7-6 with 1:32 left in the first quarter.
Looking to take the lead, Bell began directing another drive, finding Kevin Allen III out of the backfield for a 19-yard completion. Bell fired a 25-yard out completion to East, and the Eagles were in the redzone. One play later, Bell found East again in the endzone for the 6-yard touchdown. Eastern now led 13-7 at the 7:34 point of the second quarter.
The Mustangs answered the score quickly, ripping off a 55-yard run, part of a 2-play, 75-yard drive that lasted 34 seconds. EWU now trailed 14-13 with 7 minutes on the clock.
In the first drive of the second half, Eagles drove 8 plays and 81 yards to score the go-ahead touchdown. After moving the ball into the redzone, Bell rushed 13 yards for the touchdown. Eastern went up 20-14.
Cal Poly had another long touchdown run to respond, going 53 yards on a rush play to go back up by 1 at 21-20. The clock was at 8:48.
Not to be deterred, the Eagles had the response. Jaxon Bell set Eastern up inside Mustang territory after a 69-yard kickoff return. Allen carried the ball in for the touchdown from 4 yards out to put EWU back in front, 27-21, with 6:51 remaining in the quarter.
On the next Poly drive, they drove 54 yards in 9 plays, converting at a 43-yard field goal. The Eagles' lead was down to 27-24 with 3 minutes on the clock.
After getting the ball back, the Mustangs organized a drive that went 70 yards, concluding with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Grigsby Jr. to Tayvion McCoy. Poly took the lead, 31-27, with 1:03 remaining in the game.
Up Next
Eastern Washington travels to California next week to play a ranked UC Davis team on Saturday, Oct. 2. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and kicks off at 7:15 p.m. Pacific Time.
2026 EWU football season tickets are now on sale! Join Spokane County's team for six home games at Roos Field in Cheney starting as low as $99. For more info, visit goeags.com/fbtickets or contact the EWU Ticket Office at 509-359-6059 or tickets@ewu.edu.
Join the Eagle Athletic Fund for as low as $50 per year! Support Eagle student-athletes on and off the field while enjoying exclusive EAF perks such as season tickets and tailgating priority, invitations to special events, exclusive access, and more. Visit goeags.com/eaf for more information.
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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