Eastern Washington players stay focused during eclipse

While the rest of the country was staring off into space, the Eastern Washington football players were a focused bunch Monday morning.

That went double for the Eagle offensive players, for whom nothing cast a bigger shadow than the memory of Saturday’s lackluster scrimmage: 12 possessions, zero touchdowns and far too many mistakes all around.

“There were lots of things to improve,” said quarterback Gage Gubrud, whose home town of McMinnville, Ore., was smack in the middle of the eclipse path.

But Cheney is Gubrud’s home now, and his zone of totality on Monday was the path of his perfectly-thrown touchdown pass down the left sideline to wide receiver Nic Sblendorio.

That drew a cheer from the bleachers, where a crowd of 500 was settling down for the main event. At 10:27 a.m. the eclipse hit its peak and the stadium speakers blared out Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

By then, the crowd might as well have been in another universe.

As the sky darkened, a few special-teams players began to squint into the sky.

“Don’t do that,” said a helpful reporter, who offered his eclipse glasses. Half a dozen players took a look, offering “oohs” and “aahs” – but not too loudly because the coaches were within earshot.

Moments later, cornerback Josh Lewis took advantage of a spare half-minute and took a peek.

“That’s dope, man,” Lewis exclaimed before running back on the field. Several others grabbed a quick look.

A few minutes later, the eclipse began to wane and so did the crowd. Another touchdown play pulled the idle players back into the action, and life was back to normal.

Practice went on well past the eclipse, and the Eagles looked forward to Friday’s 5 p.m. scrimmage. Coach Aaron Best confirmed what fans saw last weekend: “That the guys in red (the defense) played with a lot more energy than the guys in white (the offense).”

Best added that the mistakes might have “seemed small to the naked eye but were very big in the coaches’ eyes,” and that the offense struggled too often on first down.

That led to many third-and-long situations. “For a defense, that’s hog heaven,” said Best, noting that the other quarterbacks struggled against some well-disguised coverages.