HELENA, Mont. -- The Eastern Oregon University football team fell at second-ranked Carroll College Saturday, 37-17.
The game was selected as the NAIA Game of the Week between the No. 19 EOU and the No. 2 Saints, but it turned out to be a showcase for the Saints football program. Carroll racked up 570 yards of total offense with 328 yards coming on the ground. John Camino finished with 189 rushing yards for the Saints.
Chris Ware went over 2,000 total offensive yards this season after Saturday's performance. The EOU sophomore finished the game with 234 total yards. He completed 19 of his 36 passes with 219 passing yards and a touchdown. Jordyn Jackson led the Mountaineers with five catches for 93 yards, and Kirk Miller added six receptions for 73 yards.
Carroll stuffed Eastern's running game as the Mountaineers finished with 101 rushing yards on 23 attempts. The Saints averaged 7.3 yards per play compared to EOU's 4.6 yards.
Carroll's Gary Wagner completed 20 of his 26 passes for 242 yards with no interceptions and a touchdown. Bubba Bartlett had a game-high 10 receptions and 95 yards receiving with a touchdown. The Saints held onto the ball for 40:26, and Eastern finished with a time of possession of 12:50.
Terrance Pharr finished with 12 tackles to lead Eastern Oregon. Kasidy Gooch added 11 tackles, and Corey Dunn had 10. Gooch blocked a punt, and
Jeff McNally blocked a field goal for the Mountaineer defense.
Carroll turned the ball over on its first possession with a fumble on its own 46-yard line. EOU moved to the 8-yard line before being scooted back and forced to kick a field goal on fourth down. Eastern missed the field goal and that series turned into the microcosm of the game. The Saints marched down on their ensuing drive and took a 3-0 lead with a field goal.
Eastern took the lead just into the second quarter with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Ware to Miller. But four minutes later Carroll had the lead again after a eight-play, 70-yard drive finished with a Camino 12-yard touchdown run. Wagner stretched the lead out to 17-7 with a 14 yard touchdown pass to Bartlett with 5:07 remaining in the first half.
Akers converted on a field with 2:49 to play in the second quarter on Eastern's next possession to make the score 17-10 at the half.
Gabe Le added a pair of touchdown runs to open the scoring in the second half, one for four yards and one for 14 yards. Camino sealed the win with another touchdown run from two yards out with 4:06 left in the game. Jake Burroughs crossed the goal line for the Mountaineers' final score with 49 seconds left in the game.
Eastern will attempt to bounce back with a road game at Rocky Mountain College next Saturday, Oct. 10, at 1 p.m. MT. EOU defeated RMC earlier in the season to open Frontier Conference play in La Grande. The Battlin' Bears fell victim to a rally Saturday to Montana-Western. Rocky Mountain led the Bulldogs 20-0 before falling 21-20.
