CHENEY, Wash. — Eastern Washington had their three game winning streak snapped Saturday, falling to Sacramento State 35-13 at Roos Field. EWU’s record drops to 3-2 in the Big Sky and 4-5 overall. The Hornets’ improve to 3-2 in conference and 5-4 overall. The Hornets threw the ball just six times, but rushed for 376 yards on 56 carries in the win.
“We have to find what continues to work for us. The game was 10-7 at one point so we weren’t always chasing points and trying to play catch up. We went into halftime 28-13 with a little bit of momentum with the field goal late,” head coach Aaron Best said. “The last four quarters of the second half, we have not put up any points. It’s not a running game issue, but a scoring issue. We were playing with fire for a little bit, but we played a good outfit today. They kept us behind the sticks and we have to get the run game going. We protected better than we did, especially with passing late. We did a pretty good job for two-and-half, three quarters protecting up front. But we just have to be better in passing and rushing situations to be more balanced.”
Sacramento St. rushed for 376 yards averaging 6.7 yards per carry. The Hornets defense stifled the Eagles, holding them to 38 rushing yards and 240 total yards.
The first quarter was full of action, as the teams combined for 24 points, while Eastern forced two turnovers. The Hornets led by four after one, but scored 14 points in the second quarter to build an 18-point lead. Sacramento St.’s defense shut out the Eagles in the second half to secure the win.
Jake Schakel replaced Nate Bell in the second quarter due to injury. Schakel completed 24-of-35(68.5%) passes for 201 yards.
Eastern will go on the road to Montana next week, facing a top-5 ranked Grizzlies team.