College football: WSU mounts late comeback

MOSES LAKE – Regional college football teams went 2-1 last week, with Washington State and Central Washington both claiming victories while Eastern Washington fell on the road in a rivalry matchup against Idaho. 

Washington State (7-1, 0-0 Pac-12) 

When San Diego State’s Marquez Cooper scored a touchdown on a one-yard run early in the fourth quarter, the Cougars found themselves down 26-14 on the road. However, the Cougars flipped the script with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to improve to 7-1 this season, winning their third straight game. 

Just over a minute-and-a-half after Cooper gave the Aztecs a 12-point lead, WSU quarterback John Mateer connected with receiver Carlos Hernandez on a 34-yard touchdown pass to bring the Cougars within five with 12:08 remaining in the game.  

With SDSU driving deep into WSU territory on its ensuing drive, Cougar linebacker Taariq Al-Uqdah intercepted an Aztec pass to return possession to the Washington State offense, who strung together an eight-play, 63-yard drive that was capped off by Mateer scoring on a two-yard run with 5:03 remaining in the game.  

A personal foul penalty forced the ensuing SDSU drive to stall out and the Cougars were able to run out the clock, assisted by a roughing the kicker penalty on the Aztecs.  

Washington State improved to 7-1 with the win and has its second bye week of the season this week. Its next game is at home against Utah State on Nov. 9. 

Central Washington (6-2, 5-1 LSC)  

The Wildcats never trailed in Saturday’s homecoming win over Midwestern State, defeating the Mustangs 42-21 to improve to 6-2 this season and 5-1 in the Lone Star Conference.  

CWU receiver Darius Morrison opened scoring with a 37-yard touchdown pass from Kennedy McGill in the final minute of the first quarter, though the score was quickly answered by Midwestern State on a 12-yard touchdown pass less than three minutes into the second quarter.  

Central responded with two touchdowns before halftime, the first on a 51-yard catch by receiver Jalen Grable and the second on a 41-yard run by running back Tyler Flanagan. After the Mustangs cut the lead to 21-14 early in the second half, Central posted three touchdown-scoring drives before eventually winning the game 42-21. 

McGill completed 14-of-18 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns in the win, adding 96 yards and two scores on the ground. Flanagan led the Wildcats in rushing with 111 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, and Grable’s 80 yards and a touchdown on three catches was a team-high. 

CWU travels to Angelo State on Saturday at 4 p.m. 

Eastern Washington (2-6, 1-3 Big Sky) 

Up by four at halftime, Idaho pulled away from Eastern Washington in the third quarter after stopping the Eagles on a goal-line stand to begin the second half and forcing another Eagle turnover near midfield, scoring touchdowns on its ensuing drives to build a double-digit lead over the visiting Eagles. 

Each of Eastern’s touchdowns in the fourth quarter was matched by the Vandals, as Idaho pulled out a 38-28 win over the Eagles on Saturday night.  

Eastern quarterback Kekoa Visperas completed 11-of-14 passes for 156 yards and added 26 yards and a touchdown as a runner. Receiver Efton Chism III led the Eagles in receiving with 114 yards on seven catches.  

Defensively, the Eagles gave up 252 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground Saturday night. 

EWU hosts No. 3 Montana State on Saturday at 1 p.m. 

    Washington State mounted a 12-point comeback in the fourth quarter to improve to 7-1 this season, defeating San Diego State 29-26 on Saturday night.