Drake scores touchdown in overtime to outlast Eastern Washington 35-32

It would be difficult to point to one particular play or one definitive reason in explaining how, exactly, the Eastern Washington football team frittered away the opportunity it had Saturday evening at Roos Field.

Maybe it was the heat, or perhaps the absence of a handful of starters as the list of injuries grew throughout the game.

It also would be easy to point to Michael Wortham’s late fumble or Landon Ogles’ dropped punt snap.

In the end, though, it was Trey Radocha’s diving catch in the back corner of the end zone that did in Eastern Washington, rendering all that preceded it moot.

That Drake touchdown in overtime lifted the Bulldogs past the Eagles one last time, giving the reigning FCS Pioneer League champions their biggest nonconference victory in program history, 35-32 over Eastern Washington.

“With our backs against the wall multiple times, I think we dug ourselves out, found ways to get out of harm’s way,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said. “But at the end of the day, you put yourself in harm’s way too many times, its bound to get you, and it got us.”

Three previous times in the past six years, Drake had traveled to play a Big Sky team, losing each by at least 25 points. In last year’s playoffs, which they reached following an 8-0 conference season, the Bulldogs were defeated by North Dakota State 66-3.

Yet here they were in Cheney, leading in the second half against an Eagles team that was coming off a 15-point win over Monmouth (New Jersey) on this same field nine days earlier.

It was a confident Eagles team looking to go 2-0 for the first time in three years. That 2021 season began with a 35-33 overtime victory against UNLV and culminated in a 10-3 record.

But after the game, Wortham compared it to the Eagles’ 34-31 loss last year at Fresno State, a game played on a similarly hot night – the game’s 95-degree temperature at kickoff set a program record for warmest home game – and one in which the Eagles had a similar opportunity to win.

“We had this same challenge last year versus Fresno State,” Wortham said. “… We’ve got to keep moving forward and be smarter next week.”

After Drake (1-0) took a 26-21 lead early in the fourth quarter, it was Wortham’s 6-yard TD run that put the Eagles back ahead with 7:42 left.

It was Wortham’s second rushing touchdown of the game – coincidentally, his previous touchdown came at the 7:42 mark of the third quarter – and Kekoa Visperas’ rush on the 2-point play after gave the Eagles a three-point cushion, something they hadn’t had since late in the first half.

Drake answered that with a seven-play, 51-yard drive that ended with a 41-yard field goal by Shane Dunning, who earlier in the game made kicks from 47 and 44 yards. The game was tied at 29 with 4:29 left.

To avoid kicking to Wortham, who earlier had returned a kickoff 55 yards, Drake pooched it short to Landon Cooper, and the Eagles took over at their 30. Seven plays later, Eastern faced a third-and-5 at the Drake 31-yard line with 1:50 to go as the Bulldogs used their final timeout.

On the next play, Wortham took a shotgun snap and ran up the middle for 5 yards, but Sebastian Adamski popped the ball from his arms, and teammate FInn Claypool recovered it with 1:43 remaining in regulation.

“I was thinking first down, trying to get the clock moving in our favor,” Wortham said. “He came at a great angle, I saw him late and he made a good play.”

The game was far from over.

Luke Bailey’s 20-yard completion to Mitchell January got the Bulldogs to their 46-yard line, and a pass interference call on the next play advanced them into Eagles’ territory.

Bailey’s next three passes netted them just 3 yards, so Dunning came on to attempt a 53-yard field goal with 1:12 left. It fell a couple of yards short of the crossbar.

Visperas gained 12 yards on Eastern’s subsequent offensive play, but then threw incomplete each of the next three plays. Ogles, who earlier in the game boomed a punt 69 yards, fumbled the ball on the ensuing punt. Drake took over again on the edge of field-goal range.

Drake again came up empty, settling for four incomplete passes and not even a long field-goal attempt. The game went to overtime.

The Eagles went first in overtime but didn’t get a first down. Redshirt sophomore Soren McKee drilled a 36-yard field goal to put the Eagles ahead on what was his first attempt of the season.

Drake responded with a first-down run to get to the EWU 14-yard line. After two incomplete passes, Bailey scrambled left and found Radocha for a touchdown behind two Eagles defensive backs.

Bailey finished with 380 yards passing on 28 of 48 attempts. Visperas completed 22 of 29 attempts for 180 yards, including nine completions to Efton Chism III for 65 yards.

Chism also caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Wortham late in the second quarter.

Penalties were a problem for both teams: Eastern was assessed 115 yards on 10, Drake 75 on 11.

The Eagles played without redshirt junior quarterback Jared Taylor and after halftime without senior wide receiver Nolan Ulm, who didn’t have a catch. Eagles senior starting cornerback Darrien Sampson also didn’t play after halftime, and senior defensive tackle Jacob Newsom was injured in the fourth quarter and did not return.

Wortham’s fumble was the game’s only turnover. Drake had three sacks; Eastern had none.

“At the end of the game the defense, we had to step up a few times and we did,” EWU senior defensive end Brock Harrison said.

“But it doesn’t matter because of (what happened in) overtime … we did some good things, but we’ve got to finish it.”