Eagles turn five turnovers into four scores in Big Sky title-clinching victory
Jabari Wilson of Eastern Washington prepares to deliver a stiff-arm to a Portland State defender in last Friday's 56-34 Eagle win over the Vikings. Wilson rushed for 132 yards and three touchdowns in the game that earned Eastern its third straight Big Sky Conference title in a row, a first-round bye and a second-round playoff game at Roos Field, Dec. 6 versus either Montana or the University of San Diego.
Start strong, finish fast.
That's the motto by which the Eastern Washington University football team lives. And it's exactly what they did last Friday night in a 56-34 Big Sky Conference football win over Portland State at soggy Providence Park in Portland.
No. 5-ranked Eastern dashed to a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, then watched as PSU tied it with touchdowns 47 seconds apart going into halftime. They outscored the Vikings 42-20 in the second half to earn their school-record third straight conference championship.
The Eagles (7-1 Big Sky, 10-2 overall) earned a No. 4 seed in the upcoming Football Championship Subdivison playoffs, received a first-round bye and will face the winner of the Saturday, Nov. 29, University of San Diego-Montana game, Dec. 6 at Roos Field.
Three touchdowns from Jabari Wilson, plus a 90-yard kickoff return from Shaq Hill, and an exclamation point touchdown on Tevin McDonald's 73-yard interception return for a score in the final 1 minute, 56 seconds were the headline efforts in a game played in almost constant rain, sometimes a monsoon-like deluge.
"We played a really good second half and then did all the situational things right," Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin said. "We continued to finish in the red zone and win the turnover battle."
Portland State hung with Eastern early into the second half when Shaq Richard's touchdown, set up by Steven Long's 91-yard kickoff return, trimmed the Eagles' lead to 21-20 with 11:27 to play in the third quarter. Moments before the Eagles went ahead 21-14 on a Vernon Adams 1-yard run.
But a failed two-point conversion followed and things quickly unraveled for the Vikings (2-6, 3-9) who coughed up the ball on two of their next three possessions.
Eastern broke away on a pair of Jabari Wilson touchdowns 6:10 apart, the first set up by a Richard fumble forced by Ronnie Hamlin and recovered by McDonald on the PSU 25. Four Wilson carries later, Eastern led 28-20. For the game, Wilson had 24 carries for 132 yards.
Two Portland State possessions later, McDonald punched the ball from the grip of Roston Tatum and Miquiyah Zamora recovered at the Eastern 37. The ensuing drive was keyed by Cooper Kupp's one-handed catch for 46 yards to the 6 where Wilson finished things for his third score and a 35-20 Eagles' lead with 1:48 to play in the third quarter.
Steve Coury's first of a pair of touchdowns brought the Vikings within 35-27 with 13 minutes to play in the game. But 1:42 later, Kupp survived a collision with teammate Zach Wimberley and collected a diving catch into the end zone on a 40-yard connection from Vernon Adams and Eastern again had a 15-point lead at 42-27.
Adams finished the night 21 of 33 for 309 yards, a pair of touchdowns and an interception. And Kupp, who was held to just two receptions, 18 yards and an uncharacteristic dropped pass in the first half, finished with nine catches for 147 yards.
Coury caught his second touchdown from quarterback Kieran McDonaugh with 6:36 to play drawing the Vikings to within eight at 42-34, but Hill took the kickoff and raced along the right sideline 90 yards and 14 seconds later the Eagles once again had breathing room, and a two-score lead at 49-34.
"At times it looked like they were beating us on special teams, but Shaq and our kickoff return unit was able to hit a big special teams play," Baldwin said.
McDonald's pick-six came as he stepped in front of a PSU receiver on the left side of the field at the Eastern 27 and angled his way right and went untouched for the Eagles' final score.
After Portland State missed wide left on a 32-yard field goal on their first possession, Eastern responded with Kendrick Bourne's 32-yard touchdown on a fourth and three play with 7:25 remaining in the first quarter.
Vikings' starting quarterback, Josh Kraght, struggled going 7 for 12 with just 35 yards passing, plus a drive-ending interception by Eastern's Zach Bruce in the end zone with 1:32 left in the first quarter. Bruce grabbed his second interception with just 46 seconds to play.
Wilson capped a 13-play, 98-yard drive - keyed by a clutch fourth down reception by Terry Jackson II - on a 1-yard run giving Eastern a 14-0 lead at 11:21 of the second.
McDonaugh came on in relief of Kraght in the second quarter and would throw two touchdowns, one to Alex Toureen and another to Thomas Carter to rally his team as the half ended to tie the game 14-14. The second was set up by an Adams interception.
McDonaugh finished 21 of 39 for 274 yards, four touchdowns, but two critical interceptions. While PSU earned a slim 522-494 edge in total yards, Eastern won the turnover battle 5-1 contributing to four touchdowns.
Sophomore defensive end Samson Ebukam had a team-leading nine tackles, and senior linebacker Cody McCarthy added eight.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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