Bell's career night not enough as Eagles fall to UC Davis
- Story byColumbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, Wash.
- Bell's career night not enough as Eagles fall to UC Davis
Oct. 7—CHENEY — The Eastern Washington Eagles (1-5) dropped their fourth straight game 49-38 to UC Davis on Saturday. The Eagles fall to 0-3 in the Big Sky while the Aggies improved to 2-1 in conference and 4-2 overall, according to a statement by EWU Athletics.
"We played angrier, but it was a common theme," Head Coach Aaron Best said in an EWU Athletics statement. "We gave up too many explosive plays on defense and couldn't chisel out seven-point opportunities and had to settle for field goals too often on offense."
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UC Davis dominated on the ground against Eastern, with Jordan Fisher leading the way with 255 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns — his longest run of the night going for 87 yards, according to UC Davis Athletics.
The Eagles scored first, but the Aggies scored 14 straight points to jump ahead. Eastern kept Davis in striking distance for three quarters, but 17 straight points between the third and fourth quarters secured the game. EWU closed with two touchdowns, but it was too late to claw all the way back.
Nate Bell had a career game, passing for 413 yards on 39-of-58 passing and tossing three touchdowns. The entirety of Bell's stat line was career-best for the redshirt junior. Bell added 107 rushing yards on 16 attempts and added another touchdown run.
"I thought there were good things out there, but I would be curious to see what our yards-per-play was, outside of the last two drives. Yards-per-play just was not where it needed to be," Best said. "There were four- or five-play drives. It felt like we were out there on defense for 25 plays. We didn't come out of halftime with enough vigor. We played hard and together. But the two things that stuck out in my mind the most that we didn't accomplish were scoring inside the 30 and (allowing) way too many explosive plays."
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The Eagles gained positive yardage on their first few plays, but the UC Davis defense stopped them after six plays and forced a 50-yard field goal, according to Aggies Athletics.
Davis quickly responded on offense, with Fisher ripping off a 25-yard rush down the sideline before Treynor Cleeland connected with Samuel Gbatu, Jr. on a 50-yard connection for the first UC Davis touchdown, putting the Aggies on top 7-3.
EWU stalled on its next offensive drive, and the Aggies started fast once again when Zach Jones took a jet sweep 67 yards to the house to put UC Davis up 14-3. Just over four minutes later, the Eagles responded with another field goal, converting from 33 yards out to trim their deficit to 14-6.
Near the end of the opening quarter, the Aggies' Kameron Totton secured his first career interception by picking off Bell.
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The Eagles answered as the game moved into the second quarter, scoring their first touchdown of the game on a 34-yard rush by Jaxon Bell; Davis blocked the PAT on the next play, keeping the Aggies in front 14-12.
Riding the momentum of their running back, UC Davis continued to hand it off to Fisher as the senior racked up gains of 34 and 20 yards before he ran through the defense for an 87-yard touchdown, extending their lead to 21-12.
EWU made the most of their final moments before halftime, driving down into UC Davis territory and ending the period with a 23-yard field goal, cutting the deficit to 21-15.
Coming out of halftime, the offense kept rolling for UC Davis as Cleeland found Jones for his second touchdown of the night on a 53-yard pass, putting the Aggies up 27-15.
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Less than four minutes later, EWU remained close on a six-yard rushing touchdown from Bell, cutting the gap to 27-21.
Fisher continued his dominant night, reeling off a 37-yard touchdown to expand the Aggies lead to 33-21. Another field goal from McKee brought the Eagles back within single digits, 33-24 late in the third quarter.
Cleeland and Jones rode their chemistry as the period wound down, connecting on a seven-yard touchdown. The quarterback had one more score in him before the end of the quarter, this time finding Xzavior Guess for a 56-yard touchdown with 1:35 in the third to push the score to 46-24 in favor of the Aggies.
Putting the final UC Davis points on the board, Robert Meyer was successful from 27 yards out to make it 49-24.
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The Eags' battled to the very end, with Bell finding the endzone twice more. However, these scores would be too little too late, as UC Davis held off the Eagles to secure the 49-38 victory.
Eastern returns to Roos Field on Oct. 10 at 4 p.m. when they host Northern Colorado.
BOX SCORE:
EWU: 6-9-9-14: 38
UCD: 14-7-25-3: 49
