Led by a dominant rushing attack, the Eastern Washington football team capped the university’s Homecoming week with a 35-27 victory over Portland State on Saturday, Oct. 4.
Sophomore quarterback Nate Bell led the way for the Eagles with 270 total yards and 2 touchdowns. The dual-threat’s 175 rushing yards were a new career high.
Kevin Allen III, a freshman running back, had a team-leading 79 yards on just six carries. He also scored the first two touchdowns of his college career.
Junior running back Marceese Yetts’ 13 rushing attempts led the Eagles. He compiled 79 yards and a touchdown. In total, EWU ran for 340 yards and 4 touchdowns.
The Eagles struck first via a 45-yard run from Bell. He ran around the right side of the line, broke a tackle, and dove into the endzone just ahead of two Portland State defenders.
The Vikings answered with a methodical 12-play, 75-yard drive that was ended by a two-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Delon Thompson.
Eastern Washington used a trick play midway through their next drive. Senior wide receiver Noah Cronquist threw a pass to freshman wide receiver Jaxon Branch, who gained 33 yards on the play, and set up Allen III to score his first touchdown four plays later.
With 4:40 left in the second quarter, the Eagles found the endzone on a run for the third time in the first half. Yetts broke off a 37-yard touchdown to give the Eagles a 21-7 lead.
However, Portland State did not let EWU pull away. Thompson scored his second touchdown of the game with one minute left in the half, and PSU quickly got the ball back after forcing Bell to fumble. After a quick field goal, the Vikings had narrowed the lead to 21-17 by halftime.
After Eastern Washington went three-and-out to start the second half, Portland State led a ten-play drive that ended with a field goal by senior kicker Mathias Uribe that cut EWU’s lead down to one point.
Bell gained 61 total yards on the next drive, including a 9-yard touchdown pass to senior tight end Landon Cooper. Less than two minutes later, Allen III had a breakaway 50-yard touchdown run, and the Eagles ended the third quarter winning 35-20.
Once again, Portland State battled to keep the game close. On their second drive of the fourth quarter, sophomore QB John-Keawe Sagapolutele connected with junior wide receiver Terence Loville for a 24-yard touchdown that made the score 35-27.
Sagapolutele and Loville were the engines of the PSU offense. Sagapolutele completed 28 passes for 302 yards and the touchdown to Loville, who also caught 7 passes for 114 yards.
The Eastern Washington defense held strong for the remainder of the game, including a game-sealing interception from sophomore safety Jaylon Jenkins with 1:21 left as Portland State was trying to score a last-second touchdown to tie the game. Jenkins leads the Eagles this season in both passes defensed and interceptions.
Eastern Washington is now 2-4 on the season and 1-1 in Big Sky conference games. The team’s next game is against Idaho at Roos Field on Saturday, Oct. 18th at 4 pm. The game can also be streamed on ESPN+ or listened to on The Varsity Network.
