LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University football team will honor 10 seniors Saturday against Rocky Mountain College in the final regular season game of the season.
EOU is playing for its sixth win of the season Saturday. The Mountaineers have only won six games nine times in the 81-year history of the Eastern Oregon University football program. There have been 20 seasons that finished with a record above .500.
The Mountaineers (5-5) (5-4) slide into the final game after a 27-20 loss at home to Montana Western. Rocky Mountain rides into the game on a three-game winning streak, including last week's 49-17 win over Montana State-Northern in Billings, Mont.
Saturday's game will be for sole possession of second place in the Frontier Conference. RMC (5-5) (5-4) and Eastern share identical records, but took different paths to attain them. EOU hit its stride in the middle of the season, winning four straight games after a 0-3 start, but has lost two of the last three. Rocky Mountain began 1-3, then lost two of three, but is now on that three-game winning streak.
The Mountaineers and RMC have had offensive battles in the past five meetings, with EOU winning four of those games. The teams have scored a combined 476 points in the past five matchups, an average score of 52 to 45.
Eastern stayed near that average with a 55-45 thrilling win at Rocky Mountain on Oct. 2. In a game that featured over 1,100 yards of offense and 100 points, the Mountaineers came out on the winning side. Kevin Sampson ran for 201 yards and EOU finished with 612 total yards on offense. Chris Ware completed 25 of his 37 passes for 304 yards. Kasey Peters led RMC with 409 yards through the air and completed 36 of his 56 passes.
Michael Thomas led the Battlin' Bears on the ground with 114 yards on 13 carries. RMC finished with 173 rushing yards, while Eastern had 308. Rocky Mountain outgained the Mountaineers through the air, 409 to 304.
Ware found 10 different Mountaineer receivers, and Jake Burroughs led with five catches for 40 yards. Kirk Miller led EOU with 45 yards on four catches. Levi Sutton and AJ Tolbert each went over 100 yards receiving for RMC. Sutton caught 12 passes for 125 yards and Tolbert had four catches for 106 yards.
Rocky Mountain's Steffan Blume finished with a game-high 16 tackles. Trenton Thelen and Thomas Ackerman each had 15 tackles. Marc-Avery Airhart had a team-high 11 tackles for Eastern and Howard McDonald added 10. Max Hannah intercepted a pass for the Mountaineers.
Eastern holds a nine to three advantage over the Battlin' Bears in the 12 all-time meetings. The Mountaineers have won four of the five meetings in La Grande, and five of the seven at Herb Klindt Field in Billings.
The last meeting in La Grande, featured 1,029 yards of offense, and the Mountaineers were able to outlast the Battlin' Bears in the final minutes to win, 58-50. Peters threw for 513 yards, completing 42 of his 61 passes with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Ware completed 22 of his 30 pass attempts for 336 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. The two phenomenal quarterbacks combined for 91 passes with no interceptions.
Sampson caught five passes for a team-high 125 yards. Sutton had 13 catches for 131 yards. The teams combined for 67 first downs and 357 kick return yards. Eastern had 270 yards on the ground led by Joel Haran's 123 yards on 23 carries.
Saturday's game will once again feature the league's two best quarterbacks. Peters and Ware shared the Conference Co-Offensive Player of the Year title last season and will matchup for the final time Saturday. Ware has more total passing yards (2,373), but Peters has a better average in his seven games this season (293.4).
Sampson continues to lead the Frontier Conference in rushing. The sophomore is the only player to average over 100 yards on the ground per game (113.5). He is also the only player over a 1,000 rushing yards (1,135). Thomas is third in the conference averaging 87.4 rushing yards per game.
The Mountaineers have one game left to break some more records this season. Sampson can break the school's single season rushing record with 89 yards on the ground. The Seattle native is currently fourth on the EOU All-Time list and is 142 yards from the third place spot.
Seath Kimball is a forced fumble away from breaking his eighth school record. He currently leads the NAIA in sacks and tackles for loss. Miller is a touchdown reception away from his third school record. The senior is second all-time on the EOU career receiving yards list with 1,852 yards.
Eastern is 5-5 in Senior Day games since 2000. Last year the Mountaineers fell 48-43 to Carroll College. The 43 points were the most points scored on the Saints in the past 10 years. EOU beat Southern Oregon in the 2008 Senior Day game, 27-10.
Early forecasts for Saturday include an increasing chance of showers at 40 percent with temperatures in the mid-40s. There will be a live video stream of the game on EOUSports.com along with live stats. The game will be covered on KWRL 99.9 FM in the La Grande and Baker City area this week, not KCMB 104.7 FM. Kickoff is set for noon with senior festivities jut prior to the game.
