LA GRANDE, Ore. – The 12th-ranked EOU football team held No. 21 Montana Western to its worst offensive outing of the season, and the Mountaineers improved to 8-1 in Homecoming games under head coach
Tim Camp after taking down the Bulldogs, 21-13, on Saturday at Community Stadium.
Senior quarterback
Zach Bartlow went 24-for-36 for 204 yards passing on top of two rushing touchdowns. Senior running back
Alfred Gross added 141 rushing yards on 15 carries, while senior running back
AJ Prom posted rushing a score. In addition, junior wide receiver
Joshua Richards snagged seven catches for a game-high receiving 96 yards.
Defensively, junior linebacker
Michal Arenas led the way with 10 tackles (five solo) and one interception, while junior defensive back
Justin Hughes added five tackles and one pass breakup. Both senior linebacker
Tucker Stanley and senior defensive back
John Payne recorded an interception as well.
EOU's defense held Montana Western to only 37 rushing yards, the Mountaineers' best effort since 2010. The Blue and Gold is also off to its best start (5-2 Frontier) since the 2011 campaign.
THE RUNDOWN
After a scoreless first stanza, EOU put points up on its second drive of the second frame thanks to a timely interception by Arenas. On 3rd-and-goal, Bartlow posted his first of two rushing touchdowns to put the Mountaineers up, 7-0, with 11:58 left.
The Blue and Gold forced a 3-and-out, and then a 24-yarder from Bartlow to junior wide receiver
Brenden Kelly and a 42-yard rush by Gross brought EOU to the Bulldogs' 27. With 5:29 remaining, Prom muscled in a five-yard touchdown, and the Mountaineers ultimately took a 14-6 lead into the locker room.
The third quarter saw a defensive battle between both squads, and Montana Western only got past midfield once – a possession in which EOU forced a turnover on downs. At the 8:45 mark, senior defensive lineman
Kyle Lanoue came up with a big fumble recovery to elate the Mountie sideline.
Midway through the stanza, Bartlow capped a 5-play, 20-yard drive with a rushing tally, and the Mountaineers extended the margin to 15 (21-6). With just over one minute left in the quarter, Payne picked off J.D. Ferris' pass to muster his fourth interception of the 2016 campaign.
Ferris broke away for a 30-yard rush into the end zone to pull Montana Western (4-4, 3-4 Frontier) within eight (21-13) at the 10:30 mark of the fourth quarter, but EOU milked over five minutes off the clock on its next possession, and then Stanley mustered an interception to keep the Bulldogs out of reach.
BY THE NUMBERS
5-2 – EOU's best start since the 2011 season.
8-1 – The Mountaineers' mark in Homecoming games under Camp.
3 – Interceptions by the Blue and Gold (Payne, Stanley, Arenas).
UP NEXT
EOU travels to Caldwell, Idaho, to tussle with College of Idaho on Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. MT.
