Offense, defense have their day in EWU scrimmage

Eastern Washington’s first football scrimmage of fall camp last Saturday seemed to bring out the best on both sides of the ball.

On offense the Eagles racked up 329 yards through the air, but the defense surrendered just 361 yards of total offense, allowing a net 32 yards on the ground in 33 rushing plays.

“I thought there were plays being made on both sides of the ball,” Eagle head coach Beau Baldwin said.

Most notable on the offensive side was the effort of redshirt freshman wide receiver Simba Webster whose 55-yard touchdown catch was part of a five-catch, 128-yard morning on the red turf at Roos Field.

And heir-apparent to the starting job at quarterback, Jordan West, completed 10-of-15 passes for 131 yards to lead EWU’s passing attack.

Defensively, Alek Kacmarcik led the defense with eight tackles, and fellow redshirt, freshman linebacker Kody Beckering, had an interception. As a unit they allowed the Eagles’ normally potent offense just 4.9 yards per play.

That number came in part with the defense limiting the running game to just 32 yards on 33 plays. Part of that came from a series of botched snaps and another 21 from sacks.

Vying for West’s role, a pair of freshmen, Gage Gubrud completed 12-of-14 for 98 yards and a touchdown run while Reilly Hennessey was 8-of-13 for 84 yards. Running back Sam McPherson completed a 16-yard yard TD pass to Terence Grady.

The Eagles will hold their final scrimmage this Saturday, Aug. 29 at 9:45 a.m. at Roos.