EWU finishes with 433 yards in scrimmage
CHENEY — There was still a split decision in the second full scrimmage of spring practices for the Eastern Washington football team on Saturday at Roos Field.
Led by junior quarterback Eric Barriere, the offense finished the 82-play scrimmage with 433 yards, including 361 through the air. Barriere and sophomore backup Gunner Talkington both directed a pair of scoring drives, and combined for three touchdown tosses.
The defense finished with eight quick-whistle sacks, and had another 13 other tackles for no gain or a loss of yards. In all, the offense scored on five possessions and missed two field goals, while the defense stopped them on downs nine other times, forced one turnover and earned a safety on a poor center snap.
Barriere completed his first eight passes, and engineered a five-play, 75-yard drive on the opening possession. Antoine Custer Jr. rushed twice for 25 yards and caught a 25-yard touchdown pass in his lone action of the day. Barriere also had a 39-yard TD pass to Jayson Williams, and finished 11 of 16 for 165 yards.
Talkington led the offense to scoring drives of 85 and 81 yards, and completed 7 of 14 for 138 yards and a 2-yard TD pass to freshman redshirt Freddie Roberson to end the scrimmage. Redshirt freshman Isaiah Lewis scored on a 5-yard run, and Andre Slyter made a 47-yard field goal for the other scores by the offense.
Junior Johnny Edwards IV led all receivers with five catches for 60 yards, and Talolo Limu-Jones had 87 yards on a trio of grabs. Redshirt freshman Micah Smith rushed 13 times for 36 yards as the offense finished with a net 72 yards rushing. But 12 yards of losses came as the result of poor center snaps, and coupled with the 69 yards lost from the sacks, the offense actually had 141 positive rushing yards.
Senior defensive end Jim Townsend had three of the eight sacks, plus had a forced fumble on a tackle that was recovered by junior linebacker Chris Ojoh, who finished with a scrimmage-high seven tackles. Redshirt freshman cornerback Ira Branch had a pair of passes broken up.
The Eagles will continue spring practices next week, culminating with the annual Red-White Game at noon next Saturday at Roos Field.