Eastern football has another solid season, playoff run

The bar has indeed been set high for the Eastern Washington University’s football team. A national championship will do that.

The Eagles’ season ended a couple of games short of their ultimate goal of that trip to Frisco, Texas following a 59-46 loss in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinal round Dec. 13 at Roos Field.

For the first time in three years, Eastern failed to reach the semifinal round of play, finishing 11-3. They entered the postseason as the No. 4 ranked team in the nation.

But it was another remarkable run for EWU’s program, which has emerged as the preeminent force in the Big Sky Conference after the Eagles collected a third consecutive regular-season title.

In the last decade, Eastern has also risen to the top among universities in the state of Washington, too, albeit at a division — but hardly competition-wise — below Pac-12 Washington and Washington State who had to sweat a lot the last three seasons to eek out wins over the Eagles.

Eastern’s pedigree, truly established when they won the 2010 FCS championship, 20-19 over Delaware, plus deep playoff runs, earned the school its place in the national spotlight in 2014.

Eastern and rival Sam Houston State University faced off Aug. 23 in Cheney on “The Red” at Roos Field in the “FCS Showcase.” The game, won by Eastern 56-35 kicked off the college football season in front of a crowd of 10,310, plus millions more on ESPN.

Eastern would take a 2-0 record into the intimidating confines of the University of Washington’s Husky Stadium and make the Dawgs work harder than they likely did all season to escape with a 59-52 win. UW led the game 21-0 at one point.

The Eagles would reel off five straight victories, including a 52-51 win at Montana State in which quarterback Vernon Adams scored a daring 2-point conversion with 1 minute, 28 seconds to play to provide the winning points.

In that streak, which included a 56-53 shootout win over upstart Idaho State, Oct. 4, Eastern lost Adams to a broken foot for the next four games. But few knew anything was wrong as Adams completed 23-of-35 passes for 354 yards, threw four touchdown passes. He also rushed for a pair of scores and had 79 yards, including a career-best 30-yard scamper.

Eastern hardly missed a beat the next month with sophomore Jordan West at the controls as they went 3-1 while Adams was on the mend.

Adams, the eventual runner-up — again — for the Walter Payton Award as the FCS’s top offensive player, would return to guide Eastern past Montana 36-26 at Roos and then 56-34 at Portland State that delivered the Big Sky title three-peat.

That earned the Eagles more home games at Roos, including a rematch with the Griz which produced a 37-20 win.

While the postseason run was shorter than in past years, the national honors were plentiful with Adams, offensive tackle Jake Rodgers and wide receiver Cooper Kupp earned prestigious All-America honors from the American Football Coaches Association.

The four lost games likely cost Adams the Payton as he still led the nation in per-game averages for total offensive yards (376.8), passing yards (348.3) and points responsible for (24.8). His passing efficiency rating (169.2) and total passing touchdowns (35) were the second-best marks in FCS.

“It speaks volumes to where we have come as a program and how we keep growing,” Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin said. “To finish back-to-back as the runner-up for a national award is special.”

The best news might be Adams, and much of his cast returns for 2015.

But it seems that sooner rather than later, the football team at Eastern might have competition clamoring for their spot at the top of the mountain.

Soccer had a breakout season under first year head coach Chad Bodnar who guided the Eagles to an 8-9 record and the first appearance in the Big Sky Conference Tournament since 2009. 

“We have really started a foundation for this house that we are building,” Bodnar, the former Walla Walla Community College coach, said.

And on Nov. 1, sophomore Sarah Reiter brought home Eastern’s first ever individual cross country conference title after a 17 minute, 5.2 second performance on the 5,000 meter course in Grand Forks, N.D.

As the calendar flips over into 2015, both the mens’ and women’s basketball programs at Eastern head into Big Sky play with not only winning records, but each has had notable wins on the national stage. The men toppled Indiana in Bloomington, 88-86 Nov. 24 while the women upset the University of Florida in Gainesville, 67-58, Dec. 22.

“We’ve all been able to get pretty high-level recruits, and athletes who have taken us to new heights,” women’s head coach Wendy Schuller said. “Eastern Washington gets a lot of bang for their buck.”

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.