Cougars Handle Eastern Washington

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COUGAR TOWN -- Freshman running back Harvey Unga led the Cougars to their fourth straight win, racking up over 200 yards of total offense--146 rushing and 57 receiving--as BYU (5-2, 3-0) defeated Eastern Washington (4-3) 42-7.

BYU sophomore Max Hall finished the day with 156 yards in the air on 15-30 passing and one touchdown pass. Eastern Washington quarterbacks Matt Nichols and Alex Smart combined to complete 21 of 35 passes for 224 yards. Hall also scored his first career rushing touchdown.

"It was good to win a football game, but it certainly wasn't as clean as I would have hoped," Mendenhall remarked.

Along with his game-high 202 all-purpose yards, Unga became the first freshman running back in BYU football history to total four different 100-yard rushing games during his first season.

"He simply had great vision and wouldn't go down

Corby Hodgkiss, Bryan Kehl and Quinn Gooch all helped the Cougars defensively as they all came up with interceptions to mark the first time BYU has totaled three interceptions since racking up four picks against UNLV on October 21, 2006.

It was the defense that got on the board first for the Cougars, as Hodgkiss intercepted the ball on the third play from scrimmage and returned it 39 yards to give BYU an early 7-0 lead. BYU has scored first in the last 17 of 19 games.

Then with 7:31 left in the first quarter, Hall connected with Unga for a 22-yard touchdown catch. The score marks the first 14-point first quarter of the season for the Cougars.

The Eagles drew their only blood of the game in the second quarter with 10:15 left in the half. It was a 28-yard pass from senior quarterback Matt Nichols to wide receiver Aaron Boyce. Eastern Washington drove the ball 71 yards on that scoring drive.

BYU senior Bryce Mahuika took the second-half opening kick-off 61 yards all the way to the Eagles' 19. Two plays later the Cougars got back on the board just 41 seconds into the half with a seven-yard touchdown run by Manase Tonga.

BYU's next possession came as a result of Kehl's interception, his third in as many games. Hall capitalized on the turnover by taking the ball in on a quarterback keeper from two yards out.

Junior running back Fui Vakapuna completed the scoring on the day with a three-yard run with 13:38 left in the game. The Cougars finished the game scoring 28 unanswered points.

The Cougars will next be in action again on Saturday Oct. 27 as they travel to play San Diego State at 6:30 p.m. (PT). That game will be televised live on the Mtn.

Box Score (Final)
        Eastern Washington vs BYU Cougars (Oct 20, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
  Eastern Washington..  0  7  0  0  -  7      
  BYU Cougars......... 14  7 14  7  - 42       
  Scoring Summary:
  1st 13:34 BY - HODGKISS, Corby 39 yd interception return (PAYNE, Mitch 
                 kick), , EWU 0 - BY 7
      07:31 BY - UNGA, Harvey 22 yd pass from HALL, Max (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 
                 13-85 4:24, EWU 0 - BY 14
  2nd 10:15 EWU - Aaron Boyce 28 yd pass from Matt Nichols (Felipe Macias 
                  kick), 10-71 3:22, EWU 7 - BY 14
      01:35 BY - UNGA, Harvey 13 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 8-50 3:42, EWU 7 -                 BY 21
  3rd 14:19 BY - TONGA, Manase 7 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 2-19 0:27, EWU 7 -                 BY 28
      03:14 BY - HALL, Max 1 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 2-6 0:14, EWU 7 - BY  
                 35
  4th 13:38 BY - VAKAPUNA, Fui 6 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 3-17 1:11, EWU 7 -                 BY 42
                                      EWU       BY
  FIRST DOWNS...................       14       23
  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............    29-42   47-221
  PASSING YDS (NET).............      224      156
  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  35-21-3  30-15-1
  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   64-266   77-377
  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
  Punt Returns-Yards............      0-0     5-47
  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........    7-125     2-75
  Interception Returns-Yards....      1-0     3-77
  Punts (Number-Avg)............   8-36.0   6-32.5
  Fumbles-Lost..................      1-0      0-0
  Penalties-Yards...............     6-47     6-40
  Possession Time...............    27:31    32:23
  Third-Down Conversions........  4 of 15  5 of 16
  Fourth-Down Conversions.......   1 of 2   3 of 3
  Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      0-1      4-4
  Sacks By: Number-Yards........      0-0     3-12
  RUSHING: Eastern Washington-Dale Morris 10-33; A.J. Jimerson 6-15; Alex Smart
  2-10; Nicholas Ramos 1-minus 2; A. Alexander 3-minus 5; Matt Nichols 7-minus 
  9.BYU Cougars-UNGA, Harvey 21-145; VAKAPUNA, Fui 15-37; TONGA, Manase 6-21; 
  HALL, Max 3-13; SEMANOFF, Joe 2-5.
  PASSING: Eastern Washington-Matt Nichols 20-32-2-216; Alex Smart 1-3-1-8. BYU
  Cougars-HALL, Max 15-30-1-156.
  RECEIVING: Eastern Washington-Aaron Boyce 9-135; Brynsen Brown 5-37; Shane 
  Eller 4-28; Dale Morris 1-14; Matt Martin 1-8; A.J. Jimerson 1-2. BYU 
  Cougars-UNGA, Harvey 4-57; REED, Michael 3-22; ALLEN, Matt 2-29; GEORGE, 
  Andrew 2-25; SEMANOFF, Joe 2-6; COLLIE, Austin 1-12; PITTA, Dennis 1-5.
  INTERCEPTIONS: Eastern Washington-Ryan Kelley 1-0. BYU Cougars-HODGKISS, 
  Corby 1-39; KEHL, Bryan 1-27; GOOCH, Quinn 1-11.
  FUMBLES: Eastern Washington-Matt Nichols 1-0. BYU Cougars-None
  SACKS (UA-A): Eastern Washington-None. BYU Cougars-BOLDEN, Chris 2-0
  JORGENSEN,Jan 1-0.
  TACKLES (UA-A): Eastern Washington-Robert Pearson 4-5; Ira Jarmon 3-6; Marcus
  Walker 0-8; J.C. Sherritt 1-6; Anthony Dotson 1-6; Bryan Jarrett 1-6; Greg 
  Peach 1-5; Kevin Hatch 1-5; Jared Kuhl 1-4; Makai Borden 2-2; Shawn Powell 1-
  3; Dezmon Cole 1-3; L. Witherspoon 0-4; Jason Belford 0-4; Brett Igbinoba 3-
  0; Josh Jacobson 2-1; Lorenzo Lomack 2-0; Jacob Kragt 2-0; Adam Macomber 1-
  1; Ryan Kelley 0-2; Will Edge 1-0; A. Alexander 1-0; Graham Dorland 0-1; 
  Ryan Buenaflor 0-1; Fritz Brayton 0-1; Brynsen Brown 0-1; Nicholas Ramos 0-
  1; Mark Lathim 0-1.BYU Cougars-STAFFIERI, Mark 3-5; KEHL, Bryan 3-4; BOLDEN, 
  Chris 4-2; POPPINGA, Kelly 3-3; HODGKISS, Corby 2-4; DOMAN, Shaun 1-5; 
  CRIDDLE, Ben 4-1; HOOKS, Terrance 3-2; JORGENSEN, Jan 1-3; NIXON, David 1-3; 
  GOOCH, Quinn 0-4; WOLFLEY,Rick 0-4; BAUMAN, Matt 0-4; BUCHANAN, Kayle 2-1; 
  ANDERTON,Judd 1-2; JOHNSON, Scott 0-3; NELSON, Grant 0-3; JORGENSEN, Aste 1-
  1; DULAN, Ian 1-1; DENNEY, Brett 0-2; SAULSBERRY, And 0-1; BELL, Jeff 0-1; 
  PACE, John 0-1.