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HELENA, Mont. – The Eastern Oregon University football team fell at No. 2 Carroll College Saturday, 61-34.

The Fighting Saints (7-0) (7-0) gained 705 yards of offense in the win, while Eastern finished with 459 offensive yards. In a matchup of the top two teams in the Frontier Conference, Carroll pulled away for its 40th consecutive league victory.

The game also pitted the top two offenses in the league, as both went over their scoring averages and total offensive yard averages. The Saints averaged 11.6 yards per play when they had the ball, behind a rushing attack that amassed 437 yards on the ground.

Carroll's John Camino carried the ball 14 times for 228 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Chris Ware led Eastern in rushing yards with 107 yards on 18 carries. The junior quarterback threw for 265 yards, completing 17 of his 33 passes. Ware finished with three touchdowns through the air and one on the ground. He also had one interception.

Gary Wagner was 17 of 21 for 263 yards, with four touchdowns and an interception. Bubba Bartlett caught five Wagner passes for 32 yards receiving. Corey Peterson had three receptions for 94 yards and two touchdowns. Kevin Sampson led EOU in receiving with six catches for 70 yards and a touchdown. Kirk Miller had two catches for 72 yards with a touchdown.

Ware broke two more school records in the victory, his 11th and 12th of his three years at Eastern. Both new marks were career records. He surpassed Chuck Nyby's pass completions in a career and passing yards in a career during the loss.

Kedrick Starr needed 11 kickoff return yards to break the EOU record for kickoff return yards in a single season. The redshirt freshman broke that on the opening play of the game with an 85-yard return for a touchdown. Starr finished the previous game against Montana Tech with a punt return for a touchdown. The Meridian, Idaho native finished with 190 kickoff return yards on six carries.

Wagner responded with a 67-yard touchdown pass to Peterson at the 13:06 mark in the first quarter. Four minutes later, Wagner found Peterson again for a 25-yard touchdown connection. Chance Demarais made the score 21-7 with 4:54 remaining in the first quarter with a 10-yard carry. Wagner and Bartlett completed the scoring in the quarter with a seven-yard touchdown pass play.

A Matt Ritter 35-yard touchdown pass from Wagner opened the second quarter scoring with 9:06 remaining in the second period. Ware then found Sampson for a 39-yard touchdown pass to make the score 35-14 with 5:46 left in the first half. Camino carried in a 19-yard score for the final touchdown of the half with 1:26 left in the quarter.

The third quarter featured two scores, a Camino two-yard carry and a Ware to Culpepper 28-yard touchdown connection. The fourth quarter had four touchdowns. Egan took a handoff 39 yards for a score with 12:26 left in the final stanza. Ware then made the score 55-28 with 11:23 left in regulation with a 66-yard touchdown strike to Kirk Miller. Ware ran in the next score at the 3:52 mark from 11 yards away. Egan completed the scoring a minute and a half later with a 33-yard run.

The Mountaineers (4-4) (4-3) finished with 194 yards on the ground, one yard over its season average. Carroll came into the game with a league-leading rush defense that allows an average of 89 yards on the ground per game. EOU is on pace to break the school record for most rushing yards in a single season. Eastern is at 1,548 yards on the ground this season. The 2001 Mountaineer team ran for 2,079 yards. EOU needs 177 rushing yards over the next three games to break the record.

Marc-Avery Airhart led all Eastern Oregon defenders with eight tackles, four solo. Max Hannah finished with five tackles, but intercepted his sixth interception of the season which leads the conference. Mountaineer special teams had a kickoff return for a touchdown, Howard McDonald blocked a punt, Culpepper blocked a field goal, and Jorden Bunker and Seath Kimball blocked extra points.

Brian Strobel and Thomas Robison each had 11 tackles to lead Carroll. Ted Morigeau intercepted a pass and returned it for 33 yards. Mason Siddick forced a fumble.

Eastern returns to the field next weekend at Montana State-Northern (3-4) (3-4). The Lights beat Montana Tech Saturday, 21-14. Rocky Mountain defeated Montana Western, 34-16, in the other Frontier Conference matchup.