CHENEY, Wash. — Matt Nichols threw two touchdown passes and Eastern Washington posted its first shutout in three years with a 16-0 win over Northern Colorado on Saturday.
In the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams, Taiwan Jones had 95 yards rushing for the Eagles (2-1, 1-0). Andre Harris rushed for 97 yards and caught eight passes for 50 yards for the Bears (1-2, 0-1), who lost to Eastern Washington for the fifth straight time.
Nichols finished 14-of-25 for 146 yards. Despite forcing four first-half turnovers, EWU led only 13-0 at halftime.
“If our defense hadn’t come to play today like they did, this might have been a runaway,” UNC coach Scott Downing said. “I really give them a lot of credit. . . . The guys were flying around.”
Max Hewitt had a career-best 13 tackles for the Bears.
Kevin Hatch’s interception at the Northern Colorado 39-yard line set up Eastern Washington’s first score, a 5-yard TD toss from Nichols to Nathan Overbay late in the first quarter.
EWU went up 13-0 late in the first half after Northern Colorado fumbled a punt deep in its own territory. Nichols connected with Aaron Boyce on a 9-yard scoring pass with 53 seconds remaining.
It was EWU’s first shutout since winning 34-0 at Northern Colorado in 2006.
Bryan Waggener completed 22-of-32 passes for 160 yards for Northern Colorado, who didn’t get a first down until midway through the second quarter.
Northern Colorado 0 0 0 0 — 0
E. Washington 6 7 3 0 — 16
First quarter: EWas — Overbay 5 pass from Nichols (kick failed), 1:21. Second quarter: EWas — Boyce 9 pass from Nichols (Jarrett kick), :53. Third quarter: EWas — FG Jarrett 28, 7:32. A — 5,589.
NoCo EWas
First downs 12 13
Rushes-yards 35-78 40-146
Passing 160 146
Comp-att-int 22-32-1 14-25-0
Return yards 10 1
Punts-avg. 5-36.2 9-36.1
Fumbles-lost 4-3 2-1
Penalties-yards 2-10 10-79
Time of possession 28:41 31:19
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — UNC, Harris 27-97, Walker 1-3, Morris 1-(minus 1), Robinson 1-(minus 2), Waggener 5-(minus 19). EWU, Jones 18-95, Hart 10-31, Nichols 8-16, Davis 1-9, Team 3-(minus 5). PASSING — UNC, Waggener 22-32-1-160. EWU, Nichols 14-25-0-146. RECEIVING — UNC, Harris 8-50, Thompson 6-48, Walker 5-38, Sewell 1-9, J.Davis 1-8, Morris 1-7. EWU, Boyce 4-39, Davis 4-26, Martin 1-33, Hart 1-17, Jones 1-16, Edwards 1-11, Overbay 1-5, Gant 1-(minus 1).
