Forgoing Football

Starting quarterback Fred Salanoa was 10-of-15 for 95 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in the second scrimmage of the spring for the Eastern Washington University football team Saturday morning at Woodward Stadium in Cheney.

Salanoa had touchdown passes of 20 and 2 yards to Kyler Randall and Kyle Delorme, respectively. Randall, a 2000 graduate of Ferndale High School in Ferndale, Wash., had four receptions for 44 yards and a touchdown. Delorme is a 1997 graduate of West Valley High School in Yakima, Wash., and his touchdown was his only catch of the day.

Besides Salanoa, senior quarterback Chris Samms was 5-of-9 for 69 yards. He also had 8 yards rushing, including a 2-yard touchdown run. Junior quarterback Eli Marsh was 5-of-8 for 49 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Combined, Eastern quarterbacks were 20-of-32 for 213 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions.

"All three of them are playing very well," said Eastern head coach Paul Wulff. "Eli Marsh is doing some great things, and he and the other two quarterbacks are getting better every day. It should be a really healthy situation."

"I'm not caught up in who's number one, number two, and number three," he added. "I think that we need to play the guy who helps the team move the ball -- maybe all three. If that's the case, then we're in good shape and we're happy about that. We just have to deal with it and use it to our advantage to help this team grow and get better. Hopefully it will help us in the long run win a lot more games this season."

Peter Coombe, a 1998 graduate of Oak Harbor, Wash., High School, caught four passes for 24 yards with a 14-yard touchdown from Marsh. David O'Hara, a 1999 graduate of Cortez High School in Phoenix, Ariz., had four receptions for 49 yards. Shaylon Reed caught two passes for 28 yards.

Sophomore Martese Henderson led all rushers with eight carries for 29 yards, a week after finishing with 92 yards in Eastern's first scrimmage. Henderson, a 2000 graduate of Spanaway Lake High School in Spanaway, Wash., had a long run of 25 yards.

Senior running back Jesse Chatman had two carries for 23 yards and fellow senior Jovan Griffith had one carry for 11 yards. Mario Sweet added 13 yards on three carries as the team finished with 76 yards rushing on 22 carries.

Travis Reed, a 1997 graduate of Pasco High School in Pasco, Wash., led the defense with four tackles and one interception. Freshman Josh Artis, a 2000 graduate of Richland High School in Richland, Wash., had four tackles.

Anthony Griffin, a 1997 graduate of Capital High School in Olympia, Wash., had two tackles and one interception. Griffin is just one of three returning starters on the Eagle defense, which lost 11 letter winners to graduation.

"Defensively, we got a lot better," said Wulff. "Fundamentally, we've improved over the last week. It was a big emphasis of ours and it showed up Saturday, which made me happy. Our front four played better against the run. Not perfect, but better."

"Our secondary was a lot closer in terms of being in the correct spots, and they did some really good things," added Wulff of Eastern's secondary that features four senior starters.

"When the quarterbacks had to complete balls they had to make some good throws. Our secondary was in position a lot better and they reacted a little bit quicker this week than they did last week."

The Eagles have two scrimmages remaining this spring, including next Saturday (May 5) at 11 a.m. and the Red-White Spring Football Game May 12 at 2 p.m. at Woodward Stadium in Cheney. The Red-White game is in conjunction with the 20th Annual Orland Killin Weekend.

"I was really pleased with our defense's improvement, now we have to take that into the third week and take another step," said Wulff.