Grizzly games il

He ended the regular season with three-straight performances with at least receiving yards, and had a least a yard catch in all three games.

More on Mitchell Johnson. Johnson has been an opportunistic player as EWU's "Buck" defensive end, and he now has tackles in his game career 29 as a starter. In the season when he was awarded first team All-Big Sky accolades, Johnson had 26 tackles, two sacks, two interceptions, four quarterback hurries and a pass broken up.

He burst on the scene as a redshirt freshman in and earned second team All-Big Sky honors and freshman All-America accolades. Kicker Seth Harrison rounded out Eastern's selections on the second team for special teams. Barriere earned his degree in communications and Clements was an English major. Previously, linebacker Jack Sendelbach graduated following spring quarter of in marketing, and is now in a graduate program for sport and recreation administration. Linebacker Ty Graham is now working toward his master's degree in business administration after having already received his marketing degree from EWU with a minor in sports management.

Linebacker Jusstis Warren has also received his bachelor's degree and is now a graduate student in communications studies. And offensive tackle Tristen Taylor has completed his criminal justice degree and is now working toward a second degree in psychology. The eighth graduate is quarterback Ryan Kelley , a graduate transfer from Arizona State. A total of 26 were honored in , and a program-best 34 were recognized in the season.

In the abbreviated season, 52 Eagles were honored, however, because of the Covid pandemic, there were no participation requirements to be named to the team. Senior Calin Criner Wears No. Since the season when senior Jason Belford had the number, the coaching staff has selected a leader on defense to wear the jersey. It symbolizes the defensive player who most embodies the characteristics of defense at Eastern -- grit, toughness, effort, leadership and academic success.

In his career, Criner now has nine interceptions including a yard return for a touchdown versus Northern Colorado on Oct. He has six performances in his career with at least 10 tackles. The graduate of Rocky Mountain High School in Boise, Idaho, missed EWU's first four games of the spring season, then started in the final three to close the year with seven tackles and a pass broken up.

Criner has deep collegiate football roots. Although the honor isn't necessarily given to the most talented defensive player on the team, Eastern has had straight players in that number earn All-Big Sky honors, and 14 of a possible 15 since Eastern joined the league in Name — Year - Pos. More on EWU Returning Offensive Players Besides Eric Barriere , Gunner Talkington was the only player of the three to throw a pass in , all when he made the first start of his career versus Cal Poly and finished with career highs for completions 6 , yards , touchdowns 2 , rushing yards 14 , long rush 14 and total offense He has completed of passes for yards and five touchdowns in his career.

He's thrown passes this season against Central Washington 5-of-9 for 58 yards , Western Illinois 2-of-3 for six yards , Northern Colorado 2-of-2 for 10 yards and Idaho 2-of-3 for 24 yards and a TD. Andrew Boston returns for his junior season after catching 26 passes yards and three scores in A freshman All-America selection in , Boston has receptions ninth in EWU history for 2, yards 12th and 20 touchdowns 19 receiving to rank 13th all-time at EWU, plus one rushing in 44 career games 34 as a starter as an Eagle.

He's now had six games with at least yards receiving, including a career-high versus Idaho on Oct. Also returning to the receiver position are Roberson and Anthony Stell Jr.

Roberson started six games, finishing with 33 grabs for yards and three touchdowns, and also had a yard touchdown rush. He now has 28 games of experience 18 starts in his career with totals of 93 receptions for 1, yards and 10 touchdowns, with five yard receiving performances, including a career-high versus Idaho on Oct. Stell had four starts in , and finished the season with 17 catches for yards and three scores.

He now has 22 catches for yards and three scores in his game career, but has not played in the season. He caught 23 passes for yards and a score, and was also EWU's punt returner. Nolan Ulm played considerably and had a catch for nine yards. He now has 40 games of experience 12 as a starter , and has career totals of 57 receptions for yards and nine touchdowns. He had his best day as an Eagle on Sept. As a junior in , he was third on the team with 32 catches for yards Eastern also has a trio of experienced tight ends, led by returning starter Dylan Ingram.

Mostly used as a blocking tight end, the junior has 42 games of experience 14 starts , and has caught 18 passes for yards and six scores in his career. Sophomore Aiden Nellor is also back with 26 games of experience no starts as an Eagle and seven career catches for 67 yards, as well as redshirt freshman Blake Gobel. Gobel now has 23 games of experience three starts , and has 17 career catches for yards and seven touchdowns after leading the tight end corp with four receptions for 26 yards and two scores in the season.

The running back position returns a pair of seniors in Pierce, the returning starter, and Merritt. Both returned from injuries to earn All-Big Sky honors in the season and help keep the Eagle offense productive. Pierce, forced to redshirt in while recovering from a knee injury at the end of the season, started six of the seven games he played in the season to earn first team All-Big Sky accolades.

He finished the season with a team-high yards rushing with five touchdowns and an average of 5. He also caught eight passes for another 31 yards, and had his first career yard rushing game with and two scores versus Northern Arizona.

Pierce now has a 5. Pierce has rushed for 1, yards and 24 touchdowns in 50 games as an Eagle six as a starter with 23 catches for yards and another score. His 24 rushing touchdowns scored are eighth all-time in Eastern history. Merritt also returned to be highly productive in after suffering a serious lower leg injury versus Lindenwood on Sept. He earned All-Big Sky Conference honorable mention after playing in all seven Eastern games one as a starter as a running back.

He had yards and four touchdowns rushing for EWU, and caught another 10 passes for yards and three more scores. He scored a team-high seven touchdowns, including three in EWU's final regular season game versus Idaho. He passed the 1, career rushing yards mark against Central Washington on Sept.

He now has 1, career yards 5. Merritt has also averaged Sophomores Silas Perreiah and Micah Smith also return after seeing action in both and Perreiah played in EWU's first three games in and then missed the rest of the season.

He has now played in 13 career games, and has yards rushing with a touchdown, and three catches for seven yards and another score. Smith has played in 23 Eagle games in his career and has yards rushing and three scores, plus six catches for 37 yards.

Sophomore Isaiah Lewis now has a total of 17 games of experience as an Eagle, he played in two games early in the season and had 64 yards and a touchdown rushing versus Lindenwood, but shortly after that left the team. As a redshirt freshman in , he played in three games and had 52 yards. He has career rushing yards 6. He had a career-high 86 yards versus Idaho on Oct.

The biggest priority for EWU in was replacing four starters on the offensive line, a group which had combined for games played and starts in their careers through the season. One of the new starters was senior center Conner Crist , who now has 40 career games of experience and 20 starts under his belt. He recovered a fumble in the endzone against Central Washington for his first career touchdown, just the fourth offensive lineman in EWU history to score a touchdown.

Wyatt Musser now has 45 games worth of experience in his career with 19 starts. Junior tackle Matt Shook was injured in and did not play, but returned to start all seven games in and now has 22 games worth of experience with 11 starts.

The fifth starter back from is Wyatt Hansen , a freshman who has started all 17 career games he played as an offensive guard or tackle. Sophomore Brad Godwin started the other two games in , and now has 20 total games of experience with two career starts. Matthew Hewa Baddege has started five games in the season and now has 12 total games of experience. The junior finished with a team-leading 44 tackles in six games played all as a starter.

In EWU's last regular season game versus Idaho, Smith had 17 tackles -- equaling the 19th-most in school history. Smith has career tackles, two interceptions and three passes broken up in 29 games 10 as a starter. Smith played in just three games in before being lost for the season with an injury and made his season debut versus Weber State on Oct.

He had 11 tackles in the next game as a starter versus Montana State on Nov. Junior Keshaun King started EWU's first four games in before starting safety Calin Criner returned, and King finished with 33 tackles on the season.

In the second game versus Idaho, he had nine tackles and his first career interception that led to EWU's game-winning score. King now has 69 tackles, three interceptions and two passes broken up in his game career four as a starter , including a pair of picks and five tackles versus Northern Iowa on Nov.

Weed, honored on the All-Big Sky Conference second team, has now played 35 games as an Eagle 29 as a starter. He has career totals of tackles, three interceptions and 13 passes broken up. Sampson finished with 13 tackles and a pair of passes broken up in , and has now played in 33 career games 22 starts.

A former high school teammate of wide receivers Anthony Stell Jr. The fifth starter back in the secondary is nickel back Marlon Jones Jr. He finished the year with 17 of his 24 tackles in EWU's last three games, including a pass broken up in the final game of the year versus North Dakota State.

He also played in three games in , and he now has a total of 20 games of experience nine starts and has a career total of 72 tackles with six passes broken up and three interceptions. Those picks came versus Idaho on Oct. Also back for the Eagles in the secondary is starting cornerback Darreon Moore , now a junior. Moore has played in 33 career games seven as a starter , and has 42 tackles with three passes broken up and a sack.

Arizona State transfer Ely Doyle provided a big boost in for Eastern after playing in five games in for the Sun Devils. He had 36 tackles in six games played to rank fourth on the team, including no tackles while playing sparingly in EWU's opener versus Idaho.

But he quickly bumped himself up the leaders list, with 30 tackles during EWU's four-game winning streak. He also had two passes broken up in the season, and missed the rematch against Idaho which extended EWU's winning streak to five. He now has a total of 76 career tackles and five passes broken up in 16 games with the Eagles nine starts. Jack Sendelbach , a three-time team captain, and Graham headline a linebacker corp that includes five returning letterwinners.

Graham was also a co-captain during the season when the University of Idaho transfer was playing his first collegiate games after a stretch of days without. Sendelbach finished with 33 tackles to rank sixth on the team despite playing in just three games. An Eagle since the fall of when he redshirted, Sendelbach now has tackles 14th in school history in his game career 28 as a starter , and has had 14 performances in double figures. He also has six career sacks, 31 total tackles for loss, four fumble recoveries, four forced fumbles and three passes broken up.

Graham had 42 tackles after starting all six of the games he played as a linebacker to earn honorable mention All-Big Sky honors.

Graham had a then career-high nine tackles in his Eagle debut versus his former team, then in the rematch played just the first series versus Vandals before being lost for the season with an injury. The local product of Cheney Wash. His father, John, is EWU's former defensive coordinator.

In Eastern's season-opener at UNLV, he had a career-high 14 tackles for his first performance in double figures and has four in his career. In 18 career games with the Eagles 18 starts , he has total tackles in to rank 27th in EWU history , three sacks, 14 total tackles for loss and one interception that he returned 43 yards for his first career touchdown. Also back at linebacker is junior Cale Lindsay , who had 16 total tackles in seven games in the season.

He made the first two starts of his career that season, and now has 85 tackles in 35 career games seven starts along with six tackles for loss and two fumble recoveries. He had a career-high 15 tackles and recovered a fumble against Montana State on Nov.

He played in EWU's opener against his alma mater in , but missed the rest of the season. In the season, he also played just one game as a starter at end before being lost for the remainder of the season. He has now played in 10 games as an Eagle three starts and has 25 tackles. He made his second start as an Eagle on Oct. On the defensive line, freshman end Brock Harrison returns as a starter, as does Joshua Jerome and freshman tackle Jacob Newsom. Jerome earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors.

Jerome started all seven of Eastern's games and had 41 tackles to rank third on the team, and also had a team-leading three sacks and a pair of quarterback hurries. He has played just 33 career games 19 as a starter , but already has career tackles with 11 sacks, 29 total tackles for loss, nine quarterback hurries, a pass broken up, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

Harrison took over as the starter at an end position in EWU's second game of the season and finished with a team-high five quarterback hurries to go along with 15 tackles.

He's played in a total of 23 career games as an Eagle six starts and has 47 tackles, 10 total tackles for loss, five quarterback hurries, an interception, two fumble recoveries and three passes broken up.

Newsom also started all seven games as a tackle, and finished with 22 tackles in his debut season. He has three sacks, a pass broken up, a forced fumble, a quarterback hurry and 37 total tackles in 18 career games seven starts. Four other returning lettermen are back with starting experience, including junior Caleb Davis who missed the entire season.

He now has 65 tackles, four sacks and two fumble recoveries in 35 games three as a starter , including 21 stops and one sack as a sophomore in Junior Debore'ae McClain started once as a defensive end in the season and finished with 12 tackles in seven games.

Osuoha had a pair of tackles in six games played and now has 10 career stops in 11 games played. As a true freshman in , Kokich made his season debut four games into the season and has held the punting position ever since. In he averaged He averaged He also has a yarder to his credit to rank 39th. He punted just once in a two-game span in October Northern Colorado and Idaho , and did not have to punt versus Idaho on Oct. Eastern piled up yards of offense in the win over the Aggies — the 40th time in school history EWU has exceeded yards and ranking 28th overall.

However, his EWU debut wasn't his first pinch-hit performance. A family matter sidelined Panthers offensive coordinator John Bond at the end of the season, and McCann filled in. However, the Panthers lost on the road at UCD, which would go on to lose to Eastern in the quarterfinals. McCann, who is originally from Olympia, Wash. But he was on the field prior to his recent elevation to the pressbox.

Shoemaker was in his third year with the Eagles and had been on staff since the season. Eagles Have Won 80 Percent of Their Last Big Sky Conference Games Assured of yet another winning season, Eastern has now had 24 winning seasons in the last 26 years , including a current school record string of straight and another stretch of seven straight The last time Eastern had that many winning seasons in a row came 75 years earlier in the Red Reese era when Eastern had a string of straight winning seasons from A major reason for Eastern's stretch of winning seasons is success in the Big Sky Conference.

In finishing in the league in the season, Eastern has now won at least five conference games in the last 15 seasons, with a or better finish 75 percent in 12 of those Since EWU's last losing league season in , the Eagles are for a. Starting with three wins at the end of the season, Eastern has had a record. Through the season record , the Eagles have won 70 of their last 83 Big Sky Conference games Included are stretches of 60 victories in the last 72 games including two at the end of the season and 38 of the last 46 since Those are percentages of.

At one point the Eagles had won 44 of 50 league games, and the only Big Sky school which has come close to that in the year history of the league was Montana, which won 50 of 55 games from and 46 of 51 from What is perhaps most impressive is Eastern's ability to consistently win on the road versus conference foes, with records of 80 percent on the road, at home 87 percent and overall 84 percent in the last eight-plus seasons since ending with three wins versus fellow BSC foes.

From , Eastern defeated every Big Sky team on the road at least once, including former Big Sky member North Dakota and a non-league road victory at Idaho, which re-joined the league in Until losing at Southern Utah in October of , the Eagles had won their previous road game versus all 13 other league members. Eastern then followed that with a setback to fourth-ranked Montana State two weeks later.

At the time, the streak was the top active mark in FCS and came just one victory shy of the overall school record of 21 set from Eastern won all five of its regular season home games in , all eight in , three at home in the season and was in before the loss to the Wildcats, who had handed EWU its last home loss in The Eagles entered the season as one of three teams with the longest active home winning streaks in FBS with 17 consecutive victories, and EWU improved that to 18 with a resounding win over Central Washington on Sept.

Victories over Montana on Oct. The other schools who entered the season with game home winning streaks included James Madison, which extended its streak to 19 with a win over Maine on Sept.

North Dakota also had a game streak after winning its home opener Sept. James Madison lost at home on Oct. Eastern is now The stadium has been known as Roos Field since when a new red synthetic Sprinturf surface made its debut.

Eastern's last home loss came on Nov. Eastern had a nine-game winning streak snapped in a loss to Montana State on Sept. The Eagles also had a nine-game winning streak at that venue snapped against Sacramento State on Oct. Eastern has lost just eight regular season games at "The Inferno" — Eastern finished a perfect in its debut season at "The Inferno," including three playoff victories.

Eastern's triumphs since the red turf was installed in include a record versus rival Montana. The original red turf at Roos Field was replaced in summer of by a new AstroTurf surface. The North Dakota State game on Sept. In , Eastern finished in the 50th season of football at EWU's current stadium location, which opened in Eastern has a record And it finally got to be used on March 6, Workers began in July of the three-week process of installing the second generation of red turf at Eastern Washington University's Roos Field.

The original red turf at "The Inferno" was installed in , and taken out in May of in preparation for its replacement. The basic design of the new turf is the same as before with "Eastern" in one end zone. But "Eagles" replaced "Washington" in the other. The project was completed in August, just as preseason practices were expected to move from the grass EWU practice fields to the stadium in preparation for the season.

But the Covid pandemic delayed the start of the season, so instead of making its debut versus Western Illinois on Sept. AstroTurf received the bid to replace the iconic red field. In fact, Eastern had more than doubled its opponents average score of The margin of victory in 15 of the 20 games was at least 21 points, 10 of them were by at least 30, five by 40 or more and a trio were won by at least 50 points 52 and 53 versus Cal Poly and 50 against Idaho.

In EWU's last 12 home games of that winning streak, it won by an average score of The only other games decided by less than 10 points was a victory over Portland State to end the campaign, over Idaho on April 10, , to end the regular season and over fourth-ranked Montana on Oct. The Eagles have been ranked No. On its way to the national title, Eastern ended both the regular season and the playoffs as the No.

Eastern was also No. The Eagles were as high as second in and , as high as fourth in and as high as third in The school's highest ranking in was fourth and in the abbreviated campaign the Eagles were as high as ninth.

Eagles Record Best Back-to-Back Scoring and Offensive Games in School History Eastern's points in two games in October versus Northern Colorado 63 and Idaho 71 is the best two-game stretch in school history, and has continued a trend of out-of-this-world statistics for the Eagles. Eastern's combined 1, yards of offense against Western Illinois and Southern Utah is the most in back-to-back games in school history. The previous most was 1, set in when the Eagles had versus Northern Arizona on Nov.

Additionally, Eric Barriere set the individual school record with yards of total offense against WIU passing , then EWU set a team record for passing yards with at SUU Barriere had and the other 36 came on a fake punt. The school records would later be broken versus Idaho on Oct. That is also a high for EWU in back-to-back-to-back games, and those three performances all rank in the top 22 in school history. Eastern's points That distinction goes to the squad, which had points and 1, total yards of offense in victories over Northern Colorado 48 points, yards , UC Davis 59 points, yards and Portland State 74 points, yards.

The point total in the latter two games — points — is eight better than the combined EWU scored this season versus Central Washington and Western Illinois, but was eclipsed on Oct. The passing yards by the Eagles was also a school record, and was 36 short of the Big Sky record of Eastern's team passing efficiency rating of Eastern finished the Idaho game with an average of Eastern's most recent victory over an FBS foe came in the season with a victory at Washington State.

Against current Pac Conference members, EWU is now including losses to Washington State in and with a upset of 25th-ranked Oregon State in and a win over Washington State in A win over Connecticut on Sept. The matchup will be the sixth all-time between the two programs, but only the third time the Eagles and Bison have clashed during the regular season.

The other playoff match-up was the first-ever game between the two foes, and that one went Eastern's way on Dec. In fact, two matchups between the teams have gone to overtime, with EWU losing the other on Sept. Officially opened in , U. Bank stadium is an enclosed stadium that seats 66, for most games and can be expanded to 73, Ticket information for the match-up will be available at a later date.

Back in , Eastern was just and Montana was when the two unranked teams met in Spokane, a game the Griz won But from and in straight meetings from regular season two in and none in , at least one of the two teams have been ranked — 28 of the last 29 games all totaled in a series Montana now leads However, EWU has had the upper hand in the series since , winning seven of the last nine meetings with a pair of victories in Missoula.

The Eagles have not lost at home since , making Eastern versus the Griz since the red turf at "The Inferno" was installed in For straight seasons from , both teams were nationally ranked at the time of their meetings.

In , No. In a series full of drama, the regular season meeting between Eastern and Montana was 17th time that both teams entered the game nationally ranked. Eastern has now won nine of those meetings. Interestingly, in the first nine Montana was the higher-ranked team, then in the next seven EWU was rated higher.

In the game, Montana was No. The higher-ranked team has gone in those 17 nationally-ranked matchups. The game was the first time both teams entered ranked in the top 10, with the collective ranking of 13 the best ever until when the collective ranking was In the rematch in the playoffs, the collective ranking is a best-ever nine. Below are the 17 matchups from two in when both squads have entered the game nationally ranked.

Eastern is in those games, with road victories in , and Eastern picked up a home win in in the debut of Eastern's red Sprinturf surface at Roos Field, and in in the debut of EWU's new videoboard. But prior to that, Montana had won six of the previous seven meetings. Overall, Eastern is in Missoula, in home games and in games played at neutral sites. Until Southern Utah won the title outright in , Eastern was the only Big Sky school other than Montana to win the outright title from , doing it in , and The team was inducted into the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame in Besides a come-from-behind victory in , EWU recorded wins in Missoula in , , , and The first four of those victories yielded Big Sky titles for the Eagles.

Eastern, however, won just twice at home from , and the lone home win over Montana in that stretch at Roos Field formerly Woodward Field came in But Eastern's change to a red synthetic Sprinturf surface and change of name has altered EWU's success in Cheney with consecutive home wins in , , twice and Eastern also won in in a home game played at Spokane's Albi Stadium against the top-ranked Grizzlies.

Fifteen recent games in the Eastern versus Montana series have been decided by margins of 10 points or less, including the regular season meeting in when EWU rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to win In the regular season meeting, Eastern took a lead in the third quarter before Montana rallied to make it a one-score game. Eastern kicker Tyler McNanny capped a late yard drive with a yard field goal with 28 seconds to play to provide the final margin in a Eagle win.

In , the Eagles had to recover an onside kick with to play to preserve a victory. In , Eastern prevailed , scoring twice in the last to pull out the victory. The game in also went down to the wire as the Eagles lost after edging Montana in in the first game on the red Sprinturf surface at Roos Field. Eastern ended that meeting with a fumble recovery for a touchdown. The winner has usually piled up points and yardage by the ton.

In , Eastern had yards and Montana finished with for a total of 1, in EWU's victory. In , the two teams combined for yards, with EWU winning despite a yardage advantage for Montana. In fact, Eastern has had at least yards in total offense in four games against the Grizzlies. Eastern had yards of total offense in , yards in in a win, in a loss in , yards by the Eagles in a win in Missoula in , in a win in and in a victory in Cheney.

In , the two teams combined for 1, total yards, and one year earlier had In the last 32 meetings the winning team has averaged In 10 of those 32 games the two teams have combined for at least 70 points, including a Grizzly win in Missoula in , EWU's victory in , Montana's romp in and EWU's triumph in In the regular season meeting, the two teams combined for 62 points and yards. Eastern Washington had yards of total offense, of which came through the air from Eric Barriere , while the Grizzlies had total yards rushing, passing.

It was another instant classic between Eastern and Montana on Oct. The No. With the victory, Eastern Washington improved to Big Sky Conference on the year, equaling its best start in program history as a member of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, and handing Montana its first loss of the year , The win also marked the 19th-straight at Roos Field, as the Eagles improved to over Montana since the infamous red turf was installed in The Eagles have now won 28 games since when trailing or tied in the fourth quarter, five of which have been led by redshirt-senior quarterback Eric Barriere.

Barriere completed 26 of his 42 passing attempts, throwing for total yards and two touchdowns, plus two interceptions. Barriere's targets of Talolo Limu-Jones receiving yards and Andrew Boston 80 yards, two touchdowns each passed 2, receiving yards in their careers.

The total for Limu-Jones was also the eighth most in single-game history for the Eagles in his sixth career game with over receiving yards. On the defensive front, Jack Sendelbach led the way with 12 total tackles to move into 25th all-time on EWU's all-time list.

Ty Graham also had 12 tackles plus a sack, and Marlon Jones Jr. Ely Doyle had a career-high 10 tackles and had a pass break up on the final play in the endzone. It was the second time this season Doyle has stepped up for late-game heroics, as he had the game-winning tackle to preserve the win at UNLV in the second overtime period.

Jackson Cleaver was a perfect 2-for-2 on both PATs and field goals. As a team, Eastern Washington had yards of total offense, of which came through the air from Barriere, while the Grizzlies had total yards rushing, passing.

Down by 11 entering the fourth quarter, Eastern Washington scored 14 unanswered points to open the final frame. The first touchdown was scored on a nine-yard completion from Barriere to Boston and the next on a two-yard rush from Micah Smith to take a lead.

On the ensuing drive, Dennis Merritt added to the lead with a one-yard rushing touchdown and the Eagles went up and complete a scoring run. On the very next drive, Montana had a yard kickoff return for a touchdown to cut the lead to after the extra point. After a three-and-out for the Eagles on their next drive, Jones Jr. The Eagles marched down the field and a Cleaver yard field goal extended the lead to On its final drive, Montana faced first and ten on the EWU 13 as time expired and came up empty as Eastern Washington went on to win Eastern Washington scored on its opening drive when Barriere connected with Boston for a nine-yard completion to take a lead after Cleaver's extra point.

Montana then outscored the Eagles to end the first half, taking a lead into the locker room. The Eagles were outscored in the third quarter before mounting their fourth quarter comeback.

Eastern took leads of in the second quarter and in the second half, but couldn't hold off No. In a game pitting two of the top teams in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in recent decades, Eastern went the last without a touchdown after taking a lead with left in the second quarter.

Montana used a game-ending scoring run to win for just the second time in the last eight meetings between the Eagles and Grizzlies. Eastern finished with yards of offense to Montana's , and Marcus Knight rushed for yards and three touchdowns for the Grizzlies. Despite temperatures in the 30's with snow flurries, neither team had a turnover until Eastern fumbled a kickoff return early in the fourth quarter.

The resulting Montana TD gave the Grizzlies a lead with to play. Junior quarterback Eric Barriere led Eastern by completing of passes for yards and a touchdown. However, after halftime he was just of for 70 yards as EWU had just yards of total offense after intermission.

Andrew Boston was EWU's leading receiver with five catches for 86 yards, and Talolo Limu-Jones had a team-high 97 yards on four catches. After Montana led after one quarter, it took the Eagles just 10 plays to take a lead in the second quarter. Eastern had just a pair of first downs and 47 yards on its first two possessions of the game, but a huge yard third down conversion on a pass from Barriere to Limu-Jones led to a seven-play, yard drive.

Barriere was 5-of-5 on the drive, including a yard touchdown pass to Boston. Eastern got the ball back and needed just three plays to score again on a 5-yard run by Tamarick Pierce , who was making his season debut for EWU.

The key play in that drive was a yard pass from Barriere to Limu-Jones. After Montana cut the lead to four at halftime, Eastern went up in the third quarter on a yard field goal by Seth Harrison.

But Montana regained the lead with a touchdown and field goal, then scored twice within a span to put some distance on the Eagles. The nine points were the second-fewest points allowed by the No. Eric Barriere threw for yards, completing 20 of his 34 pass attempts. He had one interception, one passing touchdown and scored the other Eastern TD with his legs.

Additionally, he moved up in three FCS categories and is now third all-time in career offensive yards 14, , sixth in passing yards 13, and ninth in passing touchdowns The Eagles forced three turnovers and had just one themselves, improving to since when winning the turnover thanks to two interceptions from Keshaun King and one from Marlon Jones Jr.

Eastern Washington was 8-of on third-down conversions and the Panthers were just 2-of Eastern Washington amassed yards of total offense on 78 plays, of which came on the ground plus through the air. Northern Iowa had total yards of offense with rushing yards and passing yards. After Northern Iowa turned the ball over on downs at the EWU 2-yard line on its opening drive, the Panthers punted three-straight times while the Eagles took a lead.

The scores came via a yard pass through traffic from Eric Barriere to Nolan Ulm , resulting in Ulm's first career touchdown. Another first came on the next drive, when Wyatt Hawkins made his first career field goal on a yard try.

The Panthers pulled within two points after a yard receiving touchdown that took off the clock following a nine play, yard drive. At the half, the Eagles led Northern Iowa started the third quarter with a yard field goal try that fell short.

On the ensuing drive, EWU turned the ball over on downs. The Panthers faced third and 18 on their own yard line when Keshaun King grabbed his second interception of his career and returned it 20 yards.

From there, Barriere scurried and avoided a sack, rushing 18 yards into the endzone and the Eagles took a lead after the point after attempt by Hawkins was good. In the third quarter, the Eagle defense held UNI to a missed field goal, an interception and a punt on its three drives as EWU took the nine-point lead into the fourth. Hawkins came on again in the fourth quarter and made a yard field goal to extend the lead to An intentional safety with left in the game were the only points Northern Iowa scored after its lone touchdown with 34 seconds left in the second quarter — a scoreless stretch of During that time, Eastern Washington forced UNI to punt three times, turn the ball over on downs twice, miss a yard field goal attempt, and had two interceptions — both of which by King.

Freddie Roberson was Eastern's leading receiver with yards on five catches. In the first quarter, he caught an yard pass from Barriere that was the seventh-longest pass play in school history. It was also the program's longest passing play in its playoff history, and were the longest in the careers for both players. The Eagle defense had three interceptions to tie a playoff record for EWU, as well as playoff highs of 12 passes broken up and 12 quarterback hurries.

Demetrius Crosby Jr. King's two interceptions tied a record with three other players. The game marked the first meeting between the two foes since the season. Eastern Washington is now all-time against Northern Iowa, with both wins coming consecutively at home. It started with a stop at the goal line on defense and we got the ball back, and all of a sudden it ended up being a pick late by Marlon Jones Jr. That was about as masterful of a job on defense that we could have done.

We gave many opportunities to the offense, and it's obviously a very salty Northern Iowa defense. We were up to the challenge on defense and we won the day on defense and scored enough points. We held them to seven points, and holding anybody to seven points in any game in those conditions is awesome. In the playoffs it doesn't matter how it looks -- it was effective and we move on. It was a gutsy, gutsy, gutsy and awesome, awesome, awesome performance by the defense.

Coach Eti Ena and company put them in situations and they were resilient and fought through adversity the entire game. Northern Iowa probably had more possessions later in the game than we wanted to with a couple of extra points we gave them , but , at the end of the day, we played lights out on defense.

We held them in check on defense over and over again and they stood the test of the series that they got presented. It was probably more of a Missouri Valley score at the end of the day, and you don't find these in the Big Sky very often. We played a brand of ball that we were up to the challenge for this week and the defense played absolutely phenomenal, complimentary football at the end of the day. There were a lot of ebbs and flows, but our guys were up to the challenge and scored more points in the name of the game, the playoffs.

We are with an FBS victory and a head-to-head win against Montana, but you have to win them all in the postseason no matter where you start. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is and we'll play a home game against Northern Iowa this Saturday and we're excited.

It was one of those moments that you knew could go either way based on results in a few games, but the ball didn't bounce our way. It was tough to get to The last two weeks, we bounced back from two losses at home.

Going on the road isn't easy, we were on a bus, and then only had three possessions in the first half. We had two turnovers in the second half defensively and got off the field on a fourth down or two and we played well enough to win by two touchdowns on the road against a team that was looking for its sixth victory.

This team has held it together, but it wasn't always pretty, and if you've been around Eastern Washington football long enough you know it never is pretty. You always want it prettier, and so do we, but it isn't. We're and excited about the victory. The field is an open stadium on one side and they milked it to two or three seconds on the clock every time. We had three possessions in the first half and scored on two of them, we needed to ramp it up and dictate the second half and we did a good job of that.

The defense had to go out there twice late in punt situations and those weren't pretty punts by any stretch. We're down a long snapper, have been down a kicker all year, but our players find a way to get it done and be effective. We made all six extra points today and we're proud of this bunch and it makes the seven hour drive a lot better. Our guys on defense hung together, we knew if we put them in situations, we'd be more successful on first downs and we'll make them do something. We got after them late and at some point, the door is going to open and it's just a matter of believing in each other.

Portland State is a physical football team and we out-physicaled them to a tune of Our players are resilient and they played with the most amount of guts I've ever seen coming down here and away from home for the first time in a month against a top-five outfit.

From about the second quarter on, we controlled the game and especially did so late in the game when we needed it with the run. Tamarick Pierce was big, we had a ton of players score touchdowns and we had a bunch of yards after catch and contact.

That was a fun game to see if you could see it in the fog. It was a total team effort, we played with a lot of guts — a lot of guts — and fought through adversity. The opportunity to respond was here and we responded, that's what a mature football team does. That helped Memphis carry a lead into the fourth.

Memphis extended the lead to 19 points on the way to its fourth straight victory. The Spurs, whose last game, against Miami, was postponed on Wednesday due a lack of available Heat players, weathered a quick start by Memphis before the game settled into a tightly played first half. Memphis carried a lead into the break. But the second half was problematic for the Spurs.

The result was more Spurs turnovers and their struggles shooting. Kind of changed the rhythm the Spurs had. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich noted that his team got sloppy in the third quarter, leading to five turnovers that resulted in Memphis getting out in transition.

And it shows. We want to get to where they are at. Just keep building. Spurs: White took a blow to the head from an inadvertent elbow by Grizzlies forward Kyle Anderson early in the second quarter, causing a cut over his left eye. He went to the locker room before halftime, got four stitches and returned in the second half.

Grizzlies: Before the game, Memphis had nine players on the injury list, six under health and safety protocols, including starter Dillon Brooks. Of the other three, rookie Santi Aldama, who was sidelined seven games with right calf and right ankle soreness, was available. Copyright The Associated Press.

All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. The Bulls relied heavily on the pair for guard depth when Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball were sidelined, but this period also vetted Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu as reliable contributors.

For coach Billy Donovan, the answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no. Golden State Warriors , first in the Western Conference vs.

Memphis Grizzlies , fourth in the Western Conference. Portland Trail Blazers , 10th in the Western Conference vs. Denver Nuggets , sixth in the Western Conference. Cleveland Cavaliers , sixth in the Eastern Conference vs.

Golden State Warriors , second in the Western Conference. Memphis Grizzlies , fourth in the Western Conference vs. Los Angeles Clippers , eighth in the Western Conference. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Sign in. Terms of Service Privacy Policy. Back to homepage. Subscriber Login.