South Dakota pulls away despite late push from Eagles offense

CHENEY — The Eastern Washington Eagles (1-2) came up short on the road against the University of South Dakota Coyotes 41-23 Saturday. Despite the loss, Head Coach Aaron Best thought his team played well, just struggled to capitalize on opportunities.  

"I think the overarching thought coming out of this is (that) we did not capitalize on the success we had," Best said in a statement by EWU Athletics. "We got them in third-down momentum again in the second quarter. A return went against us and then they earned the opportunity to score from deep. We clawed back into the game and then we capitalized on a surprise onside kick; but the next play we threw a tip-pick." 

According to EWU Athletics, South Dakota scored 21 unanswered points between the second and third quarters, giving them enough cushion to hold the lead for the remainder of the game. Nate Bell passed for 217 yards on 20-for-36 passing, with two touchdowns and one interception. Bell's favorite target was Wesley Garrett and the two connected for seven catches and 109 yards, with one touchdown. The Eagles’ run game finished with 125 yards, along with 342 total yards on offense. 

Scoring summary 

South Dakota scored on its opening possession, going 83 yards finishing with an 8-yard touchdown pass to claim a 7-0 lead over the Eagles. USD put together another long drive on their next possession, which ended with a 31-yard field goal, increasing their lead to 10-0 in the second quarter.  

The Eagles found some rhythm on offense as Nate Bell completed a pass to David Cabrera for 16 yards and moved the team into USD territory. The drive stalled, but Soren McKee converted a 40-yard field goal to put EWU on the board, cutting their deficit to 10-3 with 48-seconds left in the first half. 

The response from the Yotes was swift, as quarterback Austyn Modrzewski found Charles Pierre Jr. for a 66-yard touchdown pass on the second play of their next drive, putting them up 17-3 just before the end of the half.  

According to USD Athletics, they kept the pressure on with a pair of touchdowns to extend the lead to 31-3. On the first possession out of halftime, a quick five-play, 85-yard drive was highlighted by a 72-yard touchdown run from Pierre, who broke off his longest run of the season. 

"To go through the adversity from last season, it's never easy," said USD Head Coach Matt Vitzthum on Pierre's 100-yard rushing performance. "It felt different when he went down that sideline today (on his season-long 72-yard TD run) but you could feel our team and staff. It was the moment we've all been waiting for and it was sure dang good to see." 

Bell organized a drive to respond to the Coyotes' score, connecting with Wesley Garrett for two receptions for 54 yards. In the red zone, Bell then found Kayden Stuit from 11 yards out for his first career touchdown reception to cut the lead to 31-10 toward the end of the third quarter. 

An Eastern turnover set the Yotes up inside the 10-yard line and they took 5 plays to score, but found the end zone on a 1-yard run, extending the lead to 38-10.  

The Eagles continued to battle in the fourth quarter as Jaxon Bell set the team up with good field position after a 30-yard kickoff return. Malik Dotson helped drive the Eagles down the field, carrying the ball 5 times for 29 yards. Dotson's effort put them into scoring territory and Bell took advantage of the opportunity, finding Garrett for a 28-yard touchdown strike, making it 38-17. 

After the Yotes tacked on a field goal to their lead, the Eagles continued their effort as Bell put together another drive in the fourth, mixing passing and rushing to move the ball. He connected with Rylin Lang on two passes for 35 yards and put the Eagles into the redzone. Dotson then powered up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown and reducing the USD lead to 41-23. 

However, their second half fire on offense was too late as the game ended, giving South Dakota the win at home.  

"It seemed like when we were in position, we did not make tackles. We didn't do ourselves any favors," Best said. "They are a great football team and are well coached. They just flat-out tackled better than we did. The tackling was abundantly different on both sides of the ball."  

The Eagles hit the road again, this time traveling to Seattle to play the University of Washington Huskies on Friday at 4:15 p.m. 

BOX SCORE: 

EWU: 0-3-7-13: 23 

USD: 7-10-14-10: 41