Send-off for the seniors

After losing two consecutive home games, Eastern's football team surmounted a 13-0 deficit to defeat Northern Arizona 28-13 Saturday, Nov. 15, in a penultimate Senior Day game in Cheney.

Trailing NAU by 13 points, the Eagles scored the game's final 28 points after a dearth of offense in the first half. Eastern's defense held the Lumberjacks to negative-1 yard rushing and recorded five sacks in the game.

"We came together both offensively and defensively and made some plays. We got back into it in the first half and made a lot of plays in the second half," said Head Coach Beau Baldwin.

A 53-yard pass from junior Matt Nichols to junior Aaron Boyce set up a touchdown play for senior Dale Morris following an NAU touchdown with 6:03 left until halftime. This bolstered Eagle confidence, knowing that the game was within reach. Senior Greg Peach recorded his sixth multiple-sack game of the season with two, increasing his single-season record to 18 and career school record to 35 1/2. Senior Lance Witherspoon also had a pair of sacks and forced, then recovered, a key fumble that solidified Eastern's lead in the second half.

Other big performances included redshirt freshman Zach Johnson who had a blocked field goal and team-leading 13 tackles, and Nichols, who passed for 345 yards with touchdowns to senior Shane Hoffman and junior Tony Davis. Boyce played well catching five passes for 157 yards.

"I was really proud of those seniors and I was really proud of the team in general," said Baldwin. "We just stayed with it. We were down 13-0 and we're making mistakes, and probably everything that could have gone a little bit wrong was going wrong," he continued.

Miscues and ill-fated plays have plagued Eastern throughout the season, but those plays, when committed, were rectified on Saturday.

An Eastern fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half spelled near catastrophe for the Eagles, but Johnson's blocked field goal rescued the team. The turnover was EWU's fourth in just 30:05 of action, but in the last 29:55, the Eagles played unblemished. Baldwin said that team turnover-to-interception ratio needs to be improved upon. "That's something that is going to be huge emphasis, and next year we have to be better in that area, no question. I think that has definitely hurt us in some ballgames," he said.

EWU got lucky against Northern Arizona because of their bail-out defense and ability to make comeback plays, according to Baldwin. NAU had only one drive in the second half longer than 15 yards, which ended in a missed field goal. Eastern on the other hand, had three drives at 42-yards minimum, converting on two of them.

Senior A.J. Jimerson scored on a two-yard run to complement an 11-play, 91-yard drive in the fourth quarter to help seal the game for EWU. Nichols, who completed 25-of-42 passes for his sixth 300-yard passing game of the season, was also the team's top rusher with 29 yards on three carries. Nichols' only mistakes came early, with two interceptions in the first half.

"I think Matt did a great job even despite a few balls not going his way in the first half. He kept fighting and came back and played solid football," said Baldwin. NAU marked the last home game for 18 Eastern seniors, including 11 four-year letter winners. The team's final game is against Weber State and will give opportunity for the team to recover its 11th winning season in the last 13 years.

Eastern has ended its regular season with a win for four consecutive years now. The team will find out its fate when the battle commences on Nov. 22 in Ogdon, Utah. The game falls on Saturday and begins at 11:05 PST.