No. 19 Mounties return home

HOMECOMING: Chris Ware and the Mountaineers will try to get their sixth win of the year Saturday against Montana-Western. - EOU sports information

The Mountaineers welcome the University of Montana Western to La Grande for homecoming Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

“Homecoming is a great opportunity to showcase the type of program that we are trying to build,” head coach Tim Camp said. “We can show the former Mounties that we are taking care of these young men and giving them a great experience on a daily basis.

“One day these guys will be coming back to campus and will be able to say that I was a part of this program. They will be able to show their family what they helped build — great memories.”

The former football players that due attend the game may seem some of there past record fall.

Quarterback Chris Ware is poised to break his own record and set several more.

Ware needs 274 yards Saturday to break his own school record for total offensive yards in a single season that he set last year. Ware passed Greg Stevens 18-year-old record of 2,447 yards in 2008 as a freshman.

Ware has amassed 2,516 in seven games this year. If he can throw for 132 yards Saturday against Western he will break Stevens’ passing yards in a season record.

The Mountaineers are trying not to lose site in a time of distractions.

EOU moved back to No. 19 in the latest NAIA poll. As a team, the Mountaineers can reach six wins against the Bulldogs. A mark EOU has reached eight times in the last 80 years.

Camp is trying to keep his team grounded.

“We can not look past any team,” Camp said. “We are just a good football team. We are very excited about being able to compete against another institute of higher education. It is very hard to beat a team twice. Everybody who has played the game has a lot of pride and will prepare not to let that happen again.”

In the last meeting EOU left Dillon, Mont., 45-24 win Sept. 12.

The Bulldogs enter the game 2-4 after a 16-7 loss to Montana Tech last week.

Quarterback Michah Mamiya is completing 58 percent of his passes, while averaging 228 yards per game. He has 10 touchdowns on the season versus six interceptions.

“I think that Western is a very good football team, a dangerous one,” Camp said. “They have the talent and are coached at a very high level.

“They play hard and feed off of each other.”

Ware’s numbers have benefited from the defenses being thrown at him the last two weeks. The running attack has failed to gain more than 60 yards, but the offense has continued to move the ball, and put up points.

“We will continue to run our offense,” Camp said. “We will be aggressive and take advantage of our opportunities that we create — run or pass we will run our offense. This is a spread offense that will allow us to be successful if ran correctly. We need to take it one play at a time and stay on track. We always believe that we can score from anywhere on the playing field.”

EOU holds a 9-4 all-time advantage over the Bulldogs. The last time Western won in La Grande was in 2002 when the Bulldogs defeated the Mountaineers in their season opener, 24-21.

Saturday’s game kicks off at 1 p.m. A special pregame show begins on KCMB at 10:30 a.m. on 104.7 FM locally and EOUSports.com. The game will be video streamed on EOUSports.com. And there will be live stats and a live blog of the game available on EOUSports.com.