CHENEY, Wash.—Eastern Washington downed Central Washington, 63-14, in college football action Saturday at Roos Field.
The FCS No. 8-ranked Eagles (2-0) piled up 645 yards of total offense, putting the game away early with a 28-point second quarter.
Central was limited to just 234 yards of offense for the game.
Cameron McKinney and
Rashaad Boddie each scored on 1-yard runs, in the first and fourth quarters, respectively.
"I think that Eastern is as advertised," CWU head coach
Chris Fisk said. "They have a heckuva ballclub. I thought that our kids played hard in the first quarter and showed a lot of spirit. But as Eastern made more plays, we disappeared. I was a bit disappointed with our ability to play together as team. We have some things to fix. The good news is this one game has very little bearing on our season and what we hope to accomplish."
Eastern jumped out to an early lead when quarterback Eric Barriere scored on a 6-yard run. The Eagles added a 2-point conversion and led, 8-0, with 11:30 to go in the first quarter.
Central responded on its next possession, marching 65 yards in six plays, in a drive which featured a 34-yard pass from wideout
JoJo Hillel to
Tony Archie. McKinney ran it in from a yard away three plays later and the Wildcats were within 8-7 at 9:33 in the first.
From there it was all Eastern. The Eagles scored a touchdown and a field goal before the end of the first quarter for an 18-7 lead, and added four more touchdowns in the second quarter, including a 43-yard interception return. Eastern took a 46-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Central's offense showed improvement in the second half, as the Wildcats kept the ball on the ground. CWU rushed for 99 yards in the second half. But the improved results couldn't overcome the large deficit.
The Wildcats gained 124 yards overall on the ground but managed just 110 yards through the air on a combined 10 of 25 passing from
JJ Lemming,
Zach Matlock, and Hillel.
Boddie led the Wildcats with 52 rushing yards on eight carries.
Daniel Johnson finished with a team-high three receptions for 32 yards, and Archie caught a pair of passes for 48 yards.
For the second straight game, safety
Jahleel Breland led the Wildcats in tackles, collecting 11 for the day including six of the solo variety.
Matt Wiitanen and
Donte Hamilton each had nine tackles, with Hamilton registering CWU's only sack of the day.
Barriere was 20 of 31 passing for 264 yards and 3 touchdowns for Eastern, while teammates Dennis Merritt (120) and Justice Jackson (100) each cracked the 100-yard barrier on the ground.
The Wildcats return to action next weekend when they begin defense of their GNAC title, 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 18 at Simon Fraser.
