Hatten trick: Receiver catches four TD passes — all in first half — as Vandals drub Eagles

By MARK NELKE

Sports writer

MOSCOW — Three hundred and eighty five days after a humiliating loss some 72 miles up the road, Hayden Hatten and the Idaho Vandals delivered a decisive payback.

Hatten tied a school record with four touchdown catches — all in the first half — as Idaho pummeled the struggling Eastern Washington Eagles 48-16 in Big Sky Conference football Saturday afternoon before 11,811 at the Kibbie Dome.

“This is a big game for us seniors,” Hatten said. “Coming in, my class, we were 2-2 against Eastern Washington, We’ve played them when they were top-3 and beaten them, and we’ve played them when we should have won and lost. So this was a big game for us, because this is your neighborhood bully … naturally we’re rivals, and this game means a lot. I know a lot of the guys on their team, so I’m glad we were able to show up and win.”

Last year, Eastern routed Idaho 71-21 in Cheney. A few weeks later, Idaho leaders decided it was time for a coaching change.

This year, Idaho (6-3, 5-1 Big Sky) jumped out to a 35-10 halftime lead and took one step closer to clinching a berth in the FCS playoffs. EWU dropped to 2-7, 1-5.

“I really credit our guys who were here last year, and came back, to flip this, after losing to this team by 50 last year to winning by 32,” first-year Idaho coach Jason Eck said. “That’s impressive to turn that around.”

Hatten, who caught three TD passes in the second half of last Saturday’s loss at Sacramento State, had TD catches of 33, 17, 18 and 19 yards vs. the Eagles, and finished with 10 catches for 146 yards.

“And how about Hayden Hatten?” Eck said. “To have a guy have seven touchdowns in four consecutive quarters … I’ve never seen anything like that.”

On Hatten’s first TD, he got a step on the defender and hauled in a pass from Gevani McCoy just before crossing the goal line. On the second one, he somehow got wide open in the end zone, near the right sideline.

On the last two TDs, he out-fought the defender for essentially a jump ball — the first one just short of the goal line, and second one in the end zone.

Hate said his favorite TD on the day was the fourth one, because it tied the school record.

“I liked the play call too,” he said. “it was an out-and-up, and ‘Vani put the ball right on the money, gave me a chance to go up and get it. So yeah, I just liked the play; add a little bit of flair to the fade.”

The Vandals tried to get him the record in the second half, but Eastern wasn’t cooperating, with Tre Weed of EWU picking off a pass intended for Hatten in the end zone late in the third quarter.

Hatten’s heroics aside, Idaho also won this game with a stout defense and a running attack Eastern couldn’t stop.

Idaho ran for 308 yards, with Elisha Cummings leading the way with 128 yards on 16 carries. Anthony Woods added 70 yards on 17 carries, and Roshaun Johnson ran for 67 yards on nine carries, including two short TD runs.

“We knew they hadn’t been very good against the run all year,” Eck said of Eastern, “and we knew that was something we wanted to establish … and we were pretty efficient in our passing game, too.

Coaches had great game plans on both sides of the ball.”

McCoy was 16 of 28 for 218 yards and the four TDs.

Idaho held Eastern to just 36 net yards rushing, and the Eagles were 0 for 11 on third down.

“I thought defense was outstanding today; we were good on third down in the first half,” Eck said. “We had a good mix of pressure, a good mix of coverage, we played a lot of dime today against their 10 personnel, with 6 DBs, so we could match up with their receivers in man coverage. And our pass rush was good all day. We were not good on third down last week against Sac State.”

Eck said the Vandals weren’t good on third down in practice the week of the Sac State game, and that carried over to the game. This week, Idaho was better on third down in practice.

“You play like you practice,” Eck said. “We put a little extra emphasis on that in practice, and it surely paid off.”

“They ran the ball effectively against us. We just couldn’t get off the field,” EWU coach Aaron Best said. “It’s just not our year, thus far. We just haven’t done enough special things in moments when we’ve needed to do it.”

Eastern started strong, forcing a Vandal punt, then driving to a field goal. On the first play after the kickoff, McCoy threw under pressure, and Keshaun King intercepted at the Vandal 35. But the Eagles couldn’t do much with it, and quarterback Gunner Talkington was dropped for a 3-yard loss by Isiah King on fourth-and-1 from the 26.

Idaho drove to Hatten’s first touchdown, and the Vandals then began to take control of the game.

“Our whole thing this week was to start fast, and I believe that we did,” Keshaun King said. “It just didn’t happen enough.”

Eastern totaled 278 yards (Idaho had 531), but 162 of the Eagles’ yards came on two plays — deep passes from Talkington to Nolan Ulm (87 yards) and Freddie Roberson (75).

Idaho plays host to UC Davis next Saturday for senior day.

Eastern plays at Montana on Saturday.