BOX SCORE

BILLINGS, Mont. – The No. 21 Eastern Oregon University football team completed the regular season with a 27-16 win at Rocky Mountain College.

The Mountaineers (8-3, 8-2 Frontier Conference) match 1980's eight-win season for the most wins in a single season. It is only the second time in school history EOU won eight times in a season. Eastern had its best finish ever in the Frontier Conference and ends the regular season in second place in the conference, one game behind Carroll.

Eastern's Chris Ware completed 20 of his 26 passes. The senior threw for 211 yards. He had two touchdown passes and one interception. Ware also ran for a game-high 67 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown.

Kevin Sampson had 62 yards on 20 carries. Justin Udy, Kaleb Oveson and Gary Cole each caught four passes. Oveson had 43 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Abraham Naway had a team-high 64 receiving yards on two catches.

The Mountaineers had 358 yards of offense in the win, with 147 coming on the ground. The Eastern defense held RMC to 157 offensive yards. The Battlin' Bears had 55 rushing yards. Rocky Mountain forced three Eastern fumbles, recovering two. EOU claimed one RMC fumble.

An eight-yard touchdown pass from Ware to Oveson opened the scoring with 8:38 left in the first quarter. The touchdown connection capped a 10-play, 65-yard drive that lasted 4:27.

After a Rocky Mountain field goal made the score, 6-3, the Mountaineers got another score from Ware to Oveson with four seconds remaining in the opening period. The duo ended an eight-play, 80-yard drive that lasted 5:32 with an 11-yard connection.

A pair of RMC field goals were the only points scored in the second quarter and made the score at halftime, 13-9. The game's next touchdown came at the 9:48 mark of the third quarter when EOU's Marc-Avery Airhart picked up a Bears' fumble and returned it 37 yards for the score.

Eastern's final scoring drive of the game was the longest of the game. The Mountaineers drove 97 yards in 17 plays and scored on a five-yard Ware touchdown run. The drive lasted 8:45 and came with 14:12 remaining in regulation. Rocky Mountain would a score a late touchdown for the game's final score.

The Bears' (5-6, 4-6) Bryce Baker completed 18 of his 33 pass attempts for 102 yards. The freshman threw no touchdowns and no interceptions. Levi Sutton caught seven passes for 66 yards. Nate Ray had 54 yards on 17 carries.

The Mountaineers' Howard McDonald had a season-high 18 tackles, with two for a loss. Watson Togialiua added 10 tackles. Travis Bertelsen led RMC with 10 tackles.

Eastern came into the game ranked first in the NAIA on third down conversions, making a first down 49 percent of the time. Saturday, EOU went 5 for 10. Rocky Mountain was held to 3 of 15. The Mountaineers were eighth in the country in first downs per game averaging 22 per outing coming into the game. They finished with 23 against RMC.

The Mountaineers avenged a 51-17 loss earlier in the season to Rocky Mountain in La Grande. The teams appeared near opposite of their previous performances Saturday.

Eastern is 6-0 this season when it scores first. The Mountaineers also finish the regular season with a 5-1 road record, and a perfect 5-0 conference road record. EOU beat each of the Frontier Conference teams on the road in 2011.