Eagles fall camp concludes with scrimmage
Eagles Wide Receiver Boden Gardner hauls in a catch during their scrimmage. The Eagles open their season on the road against Incarnate Ward.
COURTESY PHOTO/BRIDGET MAYFIELD/EWU ATHLETICS
CHENEY – It started at the end of July, but fall camp is now over for Eastern Washington football, EWU athletics said in a statement. Eastern's offense and defense went head-to-head for the second time to close out camp Friday afternoon at Roos Field.
After being held out of the endzone last week in Spokane, the offense stepped up with big plays Friday.
Redshirt-freshman Jake Schakel found another second-year player, Boden Gardner, for an eight-yard touchdown on a fade route to the left corner of the endzone.
On the next drive, the two connected again, with Gardner racing for 72 yards and another score.
Schakel finished the scrimmage, completing 9-of-14 (64.3%) passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns. He had a stretch of seven consecutive completions. Gardner posted three catches for 107 yards with the pair of scores.
Kyson Thomas also brought competitiveness Friday, pulling in three catches for 75 yards. He had receptions of 45 and 25 yards.
Despite two touchdowns, the defense remained effective in the afternoon. Vincent Macaluso led the team with four tackles, including 1.5 for a loss. Shea Robertson, Read Sunn and Jirah Leaupepetele each notched three tackles.
From the secondary, Bjorn Birmingham, Marcus Lloyd, Ambrose Marsh and Dre Greeley recorded two tackles apiece. Samarai Anderson added two tackles for the day.
With fall camp complete, EWU now shifts its focus to the 2025 regular season, starting next week.
The Eagles travel to play No. 5 Incarnate Word on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 4 p.m.
Redshirt-senior cornerback DaJean Wells earned a preseason All-American third team recognition from FCS Football Central earlier this summer. Wells ranked 16th in the FCS last season with 12 pass breakups and was also named to the preseason All-Big Sky team.
Joining Wells on the conference's preseason team are defensive end Tylin Jackson and defensive end Trevor Thurman. Jackson enters his redshirt-sophomore year after making 24 tackles and one sack in 2024. Thurman made 16 tackles last season in nine games played.
Eastern was picked eighth in the Big Sky preseason media poll and ninth in the coaches' poll.