Eastern holds on for narrow win over Weber State

Mother Nature didn’t play favorites Saturday afternoon at Roos Field.

The same elements that grounded Eastern Washington’s high-flying offense also conspired against visiting Weber State, which missed three second-half field goals to help the Eagles claim an important 14-13 Big Sky Conference win.

Fifth-ranked Eastern still sits atop the Big Sky standings because its defense played its best game of the season in the worst possible conditions: with howling winds that gusted to 30 miles an hour and drenching rain for much of the second half.

And the Eagles (6-2 overall, 5-0 in the Big Sky) did it being on the field for 41 ½ minutes while facing 83 offensive plays. At game’s end, the winds that buffeted Roos Field seemed a breath of fresh air for a group that had played second-fiddle to the offense for most of the season.

Said defensive end Samson Ebukam, “I think we came together more today then we have in a long time. We went out and did what we had to do.”

In the fourth quarter, that meant protecting a one-point lead in the worst of circumstances: with the wind in their faces and the Eastern offense managing just 11 yards and one first down in its last three possessions of the second half.

“When you see a day where it’s going to be rainy and windy, you are going to be in a grind-it-out, old-school type of ballgame,” coach Beau Baldwin said. “We have to embrace those situations.”

Mostly, the Eagles embraced the ball carrier when it mattered most. With Weber facing third-and-8 from the Eagle 15-yard line with less than 7 minutes left, it was Ebukam who flushed quarterback Jadrian Clark from the pocket and sacked him for a 6-yard loss.

“I just wanted to do what I could to get the offense back on the field,” Ebukam said.

That happened one play later, when Weber State kicker Josh Kealamakia pushed a 38-yard attempt wide to the right. It was the second miss of the game for Kealamakia, who hit two field goals in the first half before missing a 29-yarder in the third quarter.

Kealamakia would get another chance in the final minutes. After taking over at the Eastern 46 following another Eagle three-and-out, the Wildcats’ Emmanuel Pooler gained 23 yards on four straight runs. But Ebukam came up big again, throwing Clark for a 1-yard loss.

After an incomplete pass, Kealamakia lined up for his fifth field goal try of the day, a 40-yarder with 2:16 to play. He had the distance, but he pushed it wide right.

“That was a blessing,” Eastern wide receiver Kendrick Bourne said in the understatement of the day.

Eastern tried to run out the clock, but went three and out to give Weber one last chance. The Wildcats got to midfield, but Clark threw four straight incompletions to seal the game for Eastern.

“Forcing field goal attempts were huge,” Baldwin said. “Even if they made them, we were in a better situation on the scoreboard.

“There is no question the defense stepped up.”

Meanwhile, the Eagle offense struggled against not only the elements, but an aggressive Weber defense that successfully gambled by jumping outside routes and forcing the running game inside.

For Eastern, which had 10 first downs and 189 yards, it was the lowest-scoring win since an 8-5 victory at Idaho in 2003.

“There’s always goiong to be adversity and today it was win and rain,” said quarterback Jordan West, who was 12-for-25 for 121 yards and two touchdown passes to Cooper Kupp.

“But you have to battle through and not make excuses,” said West, who led the Eagles on an eight-play, 73-yard drive in the second quarter that trimmed an early two-score deficit to 10-7.

Early in the third quarter, the Eagles capitalized on a 12-yard Weber State punt and drove 41 yards in 10 plays. West’s 4-yard TD pass to Kupp turned out to be the winning score.

With Weber controlling the clock, Eastern was able to run just 48 offensive plays. Running back Jalen Moore gained 68 yards on 18 carries to lead a ground game that averaged just three yards a carry.

“There were certain things our offense did well, but even in sleet, rain, wind, we have to operate better and execute better in those moments,” Baldwin said.