CHENEY, Wash. — All good things end but Eastern Washington was hoping to keep the winning streak going into the rest of the season. Eastern fell to Sacramento State, 35-13, at Roos Field ending the team’s three-game winning streak. EWU’s record drops to 3-2 in the Big Sky and 4-5 overall. The Hornets’ improve to 3-2 in conference and 5-4 overall.
Hornets’ Ground Game Overpowers Eastern Washington
“We have to find what continues to work for us. The game was 10-7 at one point so we weren’t always chasing points and trying to play catch up. We went into halftime 28-13 with a little bit of momentum with the field goal late,” head coach Aaron Best said. “The last four quarters of the second half, we have not put up any points. It’s not a running game issue, but a scoring issue. We were playing with fire for a little bit, but we played a good outfit today. They kept us behind the sticks and we have to get the run game going. We protected better than we did, especially with passing late. We did a pretty good job for two-and-half, three quarters protecting up front. But we just have to be better in passing and rushing situations to be more balanced.”
Sacramento St. rushed for 376 yards averaging 6.7 yards per carry. The Hornets defense stifled the Eagles, holding them to 38 rushing yards and 240 total yards.
The first quarter was full of action, as the teams combined for 24 points, while Eastern forced two turnovers. The Hornets led by four after one, but scored 14 points in the second quarter to build an 18-point lead. Sacramento St.’s defense shut out the Eagles in the second half to secure the win.
Jake Schakel replaced Nate Bell in the second quarter due to injury. Schakel completed 24-of-35(68.5%) passes for 201 yards.
Scoring Summary
Sacramento St. moved the ball early, ripping off a 61 yard run on the first play to put the Hornets into the redzone. They scored three plays later to go up 7-0 on Eastern in the game.
Eastern was set up well on its second drive after an interception from Jonathan Landry and they started at the Hornets 30-yard line. Nate Bell then connected with Miles Williams for a 15-yard game. One play later, Bell found Wilson Medina for a 5-yard touchdown, his first career score. EWU tied the game at 7 with the clock at 8:41.
The Eagle defense came up with another turnover, forcing a fumble and recovering at the Sac. St. The offense stalled on the drive, but Soren McKee delivered a career-long field goal from 51 yards to give Eastern the lead. They now lead 10-7 and 7:36 on the clock.
The lead did not last long as the Hornets ripped off a 59 yard rush to score their second touchdown of the game. Sac. St. now led 14-10 at the 5-minute mark of the first quarter.
The Hornets continued with the quick-strike offense, scoring their third touchdown on a 45-yard touchdown on the first play of its second-quarter drive. Sac. St.’s lead grew to 21-10.
With a short field, Sac. St. moved the ball 35 yards and scored on a 7-yard rushing touchdown to build a 28-10 lead and 4:07 remaining in the half.
Near the end of the first half, Eastern was driving as Jake Schakel completed 2 passes to Landon Cooper for 21 yards. The completions moved the Eagles into field goal range and McKee connected from 19 yards. EWU cut the Hornet lead down to 28-13 at the half.
Sac. St. moved the ball down the field in the fourth quarter, scoring another rushing touchdown, this time from 29 yards out and the lead ballooned to 35-13 and 9:47 remaining in the game.
Eag Notes
- Eastern Washington has now recorded an interception in seven consecutive games after Jonathan Landry made his first career pick. The streak matches the longest streak since the longest streak since 2018 (11/3/18-1/5/19).
- EWU was plus-3 on turnovers for the second straight game, recovering two fumbles along with the one interception.
- Jirah Leaupepetele and Landry each recovered his first career fumbles in the game. Read Sunn forced his first career fumble, while Tylin Jackson forced his second of his career.
- Jake Schakel had season-highs for the Eagles in completions and attempts. All were career-bests for Schakel.
- Soren McKee’s 51-yard touchdown was the first 50 yard-plus field goal for Eastern Washington since Seth Harrison hit a 55-yard field goal against Cal Poly in 2021.
- Wilson Medina scored his first career touchdown, a 5-yard touchdown pass from Nate Bell.
- Sunn matched his career-best with 11 tackles for the third game this season, also adding a career-best 3 tackles for loss.. Drew Carter also notched 11 tackles, 1 shy of his career-best. Trevor Thurman finished with 7 tackles to match his career best. Landry matched his career best for the third time this season with 5 tackles.
- Sac. St. passed 15 yards on 3-of-6(50%) passing, a season-low allowed by the Eagles.
- Cole Pruett set career-bests with 5 receptions for 37 yards, and matched his career-long 21-yard reception. Drew Carlson made his first receptions as an Eagle, finishing with 4 for a team-leading 57 yards. Landon Cooper also had a career-best in receptions, finishing with 4 for 33 yards. Medina had his first receptions, recording 3 total.
Up Next
Eastern Washington travels next Saturday (Nov. 8) to play No. 3 Montana in Missoula, Mont. with kickoff at 12 p.m. Pacific Time, 1 p.m. Mountain.