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Rocky Mountain high for EOU football
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 FINDING THE HOLE: Mountaineers tailback Jordyn Jackson escapes from the frontline for a big gain during a 76-55 win against Rocky Mountain College. Jackson finished with 57 yards rushing. The Observer/ PAUL HARDER Some people probably left. But what they failed to realize is this isn’t the same Mountaineers team of the past. That team gave up and stopped playing when the chips were down. This team rallied. On the next possession freshman quarterback Chris Ware hit Kirk Miller on a 3-yard fade route.Touchdown EOU. From there, the Mountaineers kept pace to win 76-55 — the most points scored at Community Stadium. The 131 points scored was 10 points short of the NAIA record, set when Southwestern of Kansas beat Sterling of Kansas 79-62 in 1994. “We’re not going to give up,” said Mountaineers head coach Tim Camp said. “That’s not in this team any more. We want every team that comes here to work for what they get.” Ware threw for 443 yards, breaking Joel Ryser’s school record of 429 in 1981. Ware also shattered the single game school scoring record with 48 points, passing the previous high of 24 tallied by Ryan Mahon in 1999. Ware hit Ryan Warner on a 3-yard touchdown pass to even the score at 14-14. The game was like a pin-ball machine. Points here, points there. Then the flippers started smoking. The numbers are mind-boggling. As a team the Mountaineers collected 714 yards of offense. Rocky Mountain didn’t finish far behind, amassing 677 yards. That’s more than three quarters of a mile. Throw in the 384 yards worth of Saturday kick returns and there’s a miles worth of yardage between the two teams. Ware took part in eight touchdowns — leaving Gavin Smith and Jordyn Jackson to share the other three. Kirk Miller caught four of Ware’s five touchdown throws. Miller finished with 178 yards on six receptions. A 41-yard strike to close out the first half showcased what Ware loves about his offensive options. “(Kirk) is the guy we go to on the deep ball,” Ware said. “He just runs by everyone. “We had never run that play before to the left. I was a little worried about it. The offensive line did a great job by giving me time to throw.” Instead of heading into the locker room trailing and kicking off to the Battlin’ Bears, EOU’s score with no time left meant second half momentum. Again the game was tied 55-55 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter it was all about defense — sort off. On paper it looked awful. The Mountaineers allowed 634 yards through the air. But when it mattered, the EOU defense made the plays. “It was a tie score after three quarters, a new game,” cornerback Rodell Razor said. “We didn’t get tired. Our conditioning paid off. We made the plays when we needed to.” For a player who didn’t practice all week long, Razor made a huge impact. He broke up four passes — two on third down. “There’s no choice but for me to be on the field,” Razor said. “I’ve been playing corner for three years, so the coaches have faith in me. I was supposed to shut down one side of the field.” The biggest came with the score 55-48. Razor broke up a third down pass, forcing the Battlin’ Bears to punt. On the next play Ware connected with Miller for 82 yards and a touchdown. EOU (2-2, 2-2 FC) got another big break with the return of Mario Olivares. The senior linebacker missed the first two games of the season. But the playmaker made a huge play. Olivares picked off one of the few errant passes by Kasey Peters in the fourth quarter. “We were blessed to get him back,” Razor said. “All he does is make plays.” That turnover helped the Mountaineers extend the lead, again on the next play. The broken record continued, Ware to Miller. This time for 32 yards. With the help of the defense, EOU scored 21 unanswered points to pull away. “It’s a team game,” Camp said. “We’re not going to win with just our offense or our defense. It takes every one. “We’ve bend banged up. But we’re getting some guys back now.” After all the points, all the yards no one was left with a breath. Even Camp looked a little winded, but of course with a smile. And like his players he got dirty: grass stains on his pants came after a Mountaineer touchdown. “We teach by example,” Camp said. “This is an exciting time here. It’s just too bad some of this didn’t click a couple weeks ago.” The Mountaineers will once again have their hands full next week. EOU will host No. 1 Carroll College (5-0, 4-0 FC) at 1 p.m. Saturday. Rocky Mountain dropped to 2-3 overall and 1-3 in conference. Peters finished with 634 yards and seven touchdowns. His seven scores tied a school record set by Bob Bees in 1996.
Eastern Oregon 7 20 14 35 – 76 First quarter RMC – Brian Guisti 13 pass from Kasey Peters (Bjorn Nelson kick), 7:24 RMC – Sean Coleman 2 run (Nelson kick), 5:40 EOU – Kirk Miller 3 pass from Chris Ware (Thomas Akers kick), 2:23 Second quarter EOU – Ryan Warner 3 pass from Ware (Akers kick), 7:04 RMC – Toby Rundle 7 pass from Peters (Nelson kick), 3:42 EOU – Ware 36 run (Akers kick), 1:59 RMC – Bryce Burton 8 pass from Peters (kick failed), 0:32 EOU – Miller 41 pass from Ware (kick blocked), 0:00 Third quarter RMC – Guisti 11 pass from Peters (Nelson kick), 12:08 EOU – Gavin Smith 2 run (kick failed), 9:52 RMC – Guisti 29 pass from Peters (Nelson kick), 9:01 EOU – Jordyn Jackson 30 run (Justin Udy run), 7:22 Fourth quarter EOU – Ware 6 run (Akers kick), 14:46 RMC – Guisti 16 pass from Peters (Nelson kick), 13:35 EOU – Smith 1 run (Akers kick), 12:05 EOU – Miller 82 pass from Ware (Akers kick), 10:54 EOU – Miller 23 pass from Ware (Akers kick), 5:49 RMC – Rundle 24 pass from Peters (Nelson kick), 4:26 EOU – Ware 25 run (Akers kick), 3:26 RMC EOU First downs 31 30 Rushes–yards 25-43 54-271 Passing yards 634 443 Comp–att–int 43-62-1 23-35-0 Total Yards 677 714 Punts 5-37.6 6-35.7 Fumbles–lost 2-2 3-0 Penalties–yards 4-26 6-30 Individual statistics RUSHING – Rocky Mountain: Michael Thomas 9-48, Casey Gregersen 4-9, Sean Coleman 5-2, Kasey Peters 6-(-9), Team 1-(-7). EOU: Chris Ware 20-114, Gavin Smith 15-73, Jordyn Jackson 9-57, Joel Haran 8-18, Justin Udy 2-9. PASSING – Rocky Mountain: Kasey Peters 43-62-1, 634 yards. EOU: Chris Ware 23-35-0, 443 yards. RECEIVING – Rocky Mountain: Bryce Burton 14-254, Brian Guisti 11-170, RJ Koch 6-91, Trevor Daer 6-42, Toby Rundle 5-71, Damien Harper 1-6. EOU: Kirk Miller 6-178, Justin Udy 5-71, Justin Reynolds 4-102, Jordyn Jackson 3-28, Daniel Parrish 2-39, Ryan Warner 2-23, Gavin Smith 1-2. LEADING TACKLERS – (top five for each team) Rocky: Anthony Martinez 13, Skyler Wipplinger 10, Todd Smith 10, Jasper Schroder 9. EOU: Corey Dunn 18, Jeff McNally 13, Scott Dumont 9, Mario Olivares 8, Travis Morscheck 8, Kyle Witty 8. |
