EWU football: When going got tough, Eags’ defense got going

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Eastern Washington’s young defense didn’t exactly come of age Saturday night, but there was a discernible growth spurt.

Indeed, defense made the difference in the second half of the Eagles’ 28-20 Big Sky Conference win over Sacramento State, a game that was threatening to get out of hand early in the second half.

That’s when the Eagles, already trailing 20-7, were threatened with disaster after running back Jabari Wilson fumbled on the Eagles’ first play from scrimmage in the half to set up the Hornets at the EWU 40-yard-line.

To that point – against a team that had scored just two touchdowns in its previous nine quarters – Eastern had given up 291 yards, including an epic, 18-play drive in the second quarter that sent the Eagles down by two scores against a conference opponent for the first time in over a year.

In other words, more of the same from a young group that had given up an average of 589 yards in EWU’s first three games.

But the Eagles made the necessary adjustments – some of them schematic, more of them mental – but most of them on defense.

Immediately after Wilson’s fumble, coach Beau Baldwin said he noticed a difference in his defense.

“There was just a look in their eyes after that play happened,” Baldwin said. “You knew, no matter how much we would fight to come back, there would be some things that go wrong – you just don’t want it to happen on your first offensive play.”

Three plays later, the Hornets punted and Eastern quarterback Jordan West hit Kendrick Bourne for a 98-yard touchdown pass that cut the deficit to 20-14. That play may have turned the game around, but it was Eastern’s defense made it possible.

“At halftime, we knew we had to pick it up on defense,” said roverback Cole Karstetter, a redshirt freshman from Ferris and one of six underclassmen who started Saturday night.

“We just took it one series at a time, and once the momentum started rolling, we played more physical and they (Sac State) shut down,” said Karstetter, who finished with seven tackles, third-most on the team behind veterans Miquiyah Zamora and Miles Weatheroy.

The result was an epic third quarter in which the Eagles outgained the Hornets 278-18 and held them to one first down while turning a 20-7 deficit into a 28-20 advantage at the end of the quarter.

The defense didn’t stop there. Eastern managed just 83 yards of offense in the fourth quarter and failed to score in its last three possessions, but Sac State managed only 50 and never threatened to get into the end zone.