POCATELLO, Idaho — After a phenomenal first half showing, the Eastern Washington Eagles gave up 35 unanswered points in the second half and lost a heartbreaker 42-41 to Idaho State.
Kekoa Visperas returned as the EWU quarterback and threw for three first half touchdowns, including two to Efton Chism III, who finished the day with 161 yards receiving.
Michael Wortham and Tuna Altahir added rushing touchdowns in the first half to stake the Eags to a 35-7 lead, but that was the beginning of a furious Idaho State comeback.
The Bengals scored with just seconds to go in the first half to make it a 35-14 game at halftime. At the beginning of the second half, the Idaho State defense held Eastern to two field goals after a potential Chism touchdown was not reviewed.
The Eags led 41-14 with 1:48 to go in the third quarter, but then the wheels completely fell off. Jordan Cooke hit Cyrus Wallace for a 15 yard touchdown pass and it was 41-21 EWU heading to the fourth quarter.
Soujah Gasu punched in a rushing touchdown from a yard out to make it 41-28 Eastern with 10:06 to go.
Then with 3:28 to go, Cooke hit Aaron Blancas on a crossing route for a 25 yard touchdown to make it a 41-35 game.
Idaho State attempted an onside kick, which was recovered by Jaren Banks, but the play was nullified by an illegal crack back block penalty on Eastern which gave the Bengals another chance and Tylor Bohannon recovered the onside kick to put Idaho State in business.
On fourth down and nine with the game on the line, Cooke connected with Christian Fredrickson for a first down to the EWU one yard line en route to the touchdown which made it 42-41 Idaho State.
EWU was able to drive downfield and set up Soren McKee for a 38 yard game winning field goal which he missed wide right.
EWU drops to 2-4 on the season and will drop out of the FCS Stats Perform Top 25. The Eags face Weber State next Saturday at Roos Field. Kick off is set for 4:00 pm.
