Big Sky Conference

EWU takes advantage of momentum swing, buries Central Arkansas to advance

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CHENEY, Washington — What was supposed to be the first step to a dream playoff run started like a nightmare for the Eastern Washington Eagles. But a key special teams play swung the momentum in the favor of the hosts here on Saturday, EWU capitalized with a dominant run to close the first half and the shift propelled EWU to another postseason victory.

Second-seeded Eastern Washington failed on two fourth down tries deep in Central Arkansas territory during the first quarter against it’s Southland Conference foe. The Bears ran the ball with authority early to build a 14-0 lead, keeping the momentum squarely in their corner early by dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

As they have all year, the Eagles found their footing in the second quarter before exploding past the visitors for 31 unanswered points in front of 6,085 in the second round of the FCS playoffs at Roos Field on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles scored 21 consecutive second-quarter points, including a pair of Cooper Kupp touchdowns among his 10 first-half receptions, then rode the momentum for the entire second half behind an increasingly common salty defensive effort. EWU allowed just four second-half first downs and a season-low 244 total yards yards, shutting Central Arkansas out on the scoreboard after intermission to post a 31-14 win to move into the quarterfinals.

“It was a typical playoff football game where it’s a little cold with a little fog,” Eastern Washington ninth-year head coach Beau Baldwin said after his 84th win at EWU. “I was really proud of our players for finding a way to win. It seemed like a grind at times, but certain imperfections are going to happen because you are playing a great opponent and there are only 16 teams left in the tournament. But we found a way to keep responding.

“I’m so proud of how our defense stepped up – we’ve grown as the year has gone along. I don’t think people were believing me four or five weeks ago when they were talking about our shootouts with other teams. That wasn’t really the reality. Our defense keeps playing great football.”

Eastern Washington sophomore Kentner Kupp tackles Central Arkansas running back Carlos Blackman at the goal line/By Randy Cahalan, for Skyline Sports

Eastern Washington sophomore Ketner Kupp tackles Central Arkansas running back Carlos Blackman at the goal line/By Randy Cahalan, for Skyline Sports

Central Arkansas rushed for 100 yards on 19 carries in building its 14-0 lead, capitalizing on two failed EWU fourth down tries inside the UCA 30-yard line in the game’s first 20 minutes. Freshman Carlos Blackman scored on a four-yard burst out of the “Wildcat” formation to cap a 12-play, 71-yard drive and put UCA up 7-0 32 seconds into the second quarter. Tremon Smith’s 20-yard punt return gave UCA the ball on the EWU 47-yard line. Five plays later, senior Antwon Wells plunged in from two yards out and UCA had a commanding lead.

But a key penalty extended EWU’s next drive that resulted in EWU’s first score. The Bears fumbled the ensuing kickoff return and the hosts never gave the momentum back, taking a 21-14 lead into halftime and pitching a shutout after intermission to advance to the quarterfinals for the fifth trip to the quarterfinals under Baldwin, EWU’s head coach since 2008.

“Very disappointed in the way the game turned out,” UCA third-year head coach Steve Campbell said after his team finished 2016 with a 10-3 record that included a 31-24 win over Illinois State in the first round of the playoffs last week. “I felt early, we had a lot of good things going for us. In the second quarter, we were up 14-0 and felt like we really had a lot of momentum going and then they scored, we had the turnover, they scored, we gave up another one before the half. Offensively, after that we had a hard time getting anything going.”

“Those guys have been there before. Eastern has dug themselves into a whole before and have always managed to fight themselves out of it. They were able to do that again today.”

Eastern Washington sophomore Gage Gubrud/ By Randy Cahalan, for Skyline Sports

Eastern Washington sophomore Gage Gubrud set a school record with 47 completions Saturday/ By Randy Cahalan, for Skyline Sports

With Central Arkansas playing a 3-deep zone in pass coverage most of the afternoon, Eastern Washington sophomore quarterback Gage Gubrud completed a school-record 47 passes in 64 attempts for 449 yards. His 68 yards rushing pushed him to 517 yards of total offense (fourth in school history) on an afternoon EWU ran 100 plays for 531 yards.

“I’ve never thrown that many balls in a game before,” said Gubrud, the co-Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year award winner and a finalist for the Walter Payton Award. “That’s what they were giving us. They are a tough outfit to run the ball against so we just took what they gave us.”

Kupp caught 10 passes for 95 yards before taking a seat in the second half while still nursing an injury to his left shoulder. Senior Kendrick Bourne caught 13 passes for 126 yards to pick up the slack. Senior Shaq Hill finished with seven catches for 63 yards and his touchdown run on a jet sweep with one minute, 18 seconds left put a stamp on EWU’s 11th playoff win under Baldwin.

“They didn’t do what we excepted because they were a team that did what they do all season long but they really hadn’t faced an offense quite the same as ours,” Baldwin said. “I didn’t expect it because they didn’t show it. But we adjusted and took full advantage.”

The momentum swung in Eastern Washington’s favor midway through the second quarter because of a pair of key special teams plays. EWU marched 95 yards in 12 plays on a drive extended by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on UCA’s sideline and capped by Gubrud’s one-yard touchdown run on a zone-read keeper to cut the Bears’ lead to 14-7.

On the ensuing kickoff, freshman defensive back Sam Inos stripped Dwayne Smith. EWU freshman Tysen Prunty recovered the fumble on the UCA 22. Gubrud hit Kupp with a 19-yard touchdown pass three plays later and all of a sudden the score was tied. On the next UCA possession, Bears junior quarterback Hayden Hildebrand hit running back Keshawn Ledet in the flat on a third down and three yards to go. Senior J.J. Njoku stuffed Ledet for a gain of one and UCA punted.

Eastern Washington running back Antoine Custer/ By Randy Cahalan, for Skyline Sports

Eastern Washington running back Antoine Custer/ By Randy Cahalan, for Skyline Sports

Central Arkansas responded, sacking Gubrud to set up a fourth down. Baldwin trotted his field goal unit out for what appeared to be a 42-yard attempt. Instead, EWU ran a fake. Sophomore quarterback Riley Hennessey threw to senior tight end Zach Wimberly, who shrugged off Garrett Sharp and ran the rest of the eight yards he needed for a first down.

Gubrud hit Kupp twice for 16 yards, including a six-yard touchdown, the 70th of Kupp’s peerless career.

“After we just went down there and scored, we get a big turnover, get the ball on the 20-yard line and it was like, ‘here we go, we have great field position, let’s go score and tie this thing up,” Gubrud said. “You definitely felt the momentum shift.”

Eastern Washington’s stout defensive performance came with first-team All-Big Sky middle linebacker Miquayah Zamora on the shelf with an injury. Strong-side linebacker Alex Kacmarcik went down with an injury as well meaning true freshman Andrew Katzenberger and sophomore Ketner Kupp (Cooper’s little brother) manned the interior of EWU’s defense.

Initially, Central Arkansas dominated the point of attack with its physical offensive front and its array of running backs. EWU allowed 100 yards rushing on the first 19 carries of the day for the Bears and 29 on the next 14.

“We just weren’t fitting it (the run) right,” Ketner Kupp said after notching 11 tackles. “We got to the sideline, coaches told us what we needed to do. Each guy did his job, fit up his gap like he needed to. When you do that, they can’t run the ball.”

Eastern Washington senior Cooper Kupp/ By Randy Cahalan, for Skyline Sports

Eastern Washington senior Cooper Kupp/ By Randy Cahalan, for Skyline Sports

Cooper Kupp suffered a sprain to his left shoulder in EWU’s 35-28 win over Portland State in its season finale. He played for all the first half and for the first series of the second half before taking a seat. His pushes him to 101 catches for 1,392 yards and 14 touchdowns this season despite missing nine full quarters of action.

Kupp now has 412 catches for 6,156 yards and 70 touchdowns. He already possessed the Division I records for catches and touchdowns before the game. His yardage total is now just 21 yards away from the record set by Chris George of Glenville State between 1991 and 1994 for the most receiving yards by any collegiate wide receiver ever, any division.

“We knew we were going to try to be smart and feel it out,” Baldwin said. “In the second half, we talked about where he was and we were at a spot where it was the smartest thing to really spot him in the second half and it got to the point where we didn’t need to.”

With rumors swirling of his possible candidacy for Nevada’s head coaching vacancy, Baldwin continued his success in the FCS. His team has now won at least one playoff game in each of its last five postseason appearances, including three runs to the FCS Final Four and the 2010 national championship, the last national title won by a Big Sky Conference school or any school other than five-time defending national champion North Dakota State.

Eastern Washington will play Richmond at 1 p.m. PST in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs. The Spiders rallied from 24-7 third quarter deficit for a 27-24 win over North Dakota, the co-Big Sky champions who shared the title with EWU because the two teams did not play during the regular season. The Spiders won the game on an 18-yard field goal as time expired.

“I’m excited, and now when there are only eight teams left in the country, you know your team is grinding and has done a great job during the year to earn this,” Baldwin said. “Now we are looking forward to the prep for the next one.”

Photos by Randy Cahalan, for Skyline Sports. All Rights Reserved. 

 

 

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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