Last minute win sends Eagles to FCS semis

In a season marked by a handful of rallies on the way to an 11-2 record, Eastern Washington took last Saturday’s to another level.

Trailing by a point with 1 minute, 13 seconds to play, the Eagles traveled 75 yards in just 47 seconds — the final 35 yards covered by Sam McPherson for the deciding touchdown with 26 seconds to play — scoring a 34-29 Football championship Subdivision quarterfinal playoff game win over the University of California-Davis at Roos Field.

Eastern is now heading to their fifth FCS semifinal playoff game in nine seasons and sixth overall as the third-seeded Eagles (11-2) will host the Maine Black Bears (10-3), a 23-18 upset winner over Weber State on Friday.

The winner faces either North Dakota State or South Dakota State in the Football Championship Subdivision title game Jan. 5 in Frisco, Texas.

After the Aggies regained the lead with 1:13 to play on a two-point conversion to go up 29-28, Eastern used a four-play march to stun the visitors and make the crowd of 5,503 chilled fans delirious on a sub-freezing afternoon.

Quarterback Eric Barriere began it all, turning a nearly disastrous sack attempt by the Aggies into a scramble for 29 yards inside UCD territory at the 46. Two plays later Nsimba Webster caught an 11-yard pass to the 35.

And then McPherson took a handoff and ran untouched around the end and down the right sideline for the winning play. A failed 2-point conversion was about the only thing the Eagles did not do right in the final minutes.

“That’s a special bunch,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said. “I don’t want this season to end because they are so precious, they are so important and they are so fun to hang around every day. We’ll let it rip next week and see where it goes.”

The frantic finish was part of a totally dominant fourth quarter for Eastern which outscored UCD 20-8.

While Eastern was scoring, Davis was sputtering. Three Aggie possessions in the final 15 minutes ended in punts, one was a score, but the final, a strip sack by Jim Townsend with 11 seconds to play on the UCD 28 sealed it.

Eastern trailed 21-14 going into the fourth quarter but scored twice within less than a three-minute span as Barriere scored from 5 yards out with 10:06 to play to tie and then Nsimba Webster took a Barriere pass for a 7-yard touchdown and a 28-21 Eagle lead at 7:12.

Barriere accounted for 278 yards of offense and four touchdowns for the Eagles, 235 through the air and 43 on the ground. McPherson had 143 rushing yards in a ground game that churned out 268.

Other Eastern touchdowns came from Terence Grady and Henderson Belk.

Ulonzo Gilliam scored three times for the Aggies, Big Sky co-champions with Eastern and Weber State and who finished their season 10-3.

Four Eagles finished in double figures in tackles for the Eagle defense, which had three interceptions and forced a total of four turnovers. Senior linebacker Ketner Kupp led the way with a career-high 16 tackles.

Chris Ojoh recovered the fumble caused by Townsend and had a key interception in the end zone that blunted a possible UCD score at the end of the first half. Anthany Smith and Mitchell Johnson also had interceptions that helped Eastern enjoy a 4-1 edge in turnovers.

Eastern has now won 23 games since 2010 when trailing or tied in the fourth quarter, but it was the first this season for the Eagles who won for the sixth consecutive time. They trailed 10-0 to Davis before rallying for a 59-20 win Nov. 10 and Nicholls State was up 14-3 in an eventual 42-21 playoff win two weeks ago.

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