Eagles to face Northern Colorado Saturday after nail-biting loss to Montana
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 weeks, 2 days AGO
Wide receiver Michael Wortham of the Montana Grizzlies turns up field after making a reception during the second half against the Eastern Washington Eagles in Missoula Nov. 8. The Eagles will face the Northern Colorado Bears at home Saturday.
COURTESY PHOTO/RYAN BRENNECKE/UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | November 13, 2025 2:40 AM
CHENEY — Eastern Washington University’s football squad made a good showing last weekend, narrowly losing to No. 2 Montana, according to a statement from EWU Athletics.
The Grizzlies jumped out to a 22-0 lead early in the second quarter, led by Keali'i Ah Ya,t who completed 14 of his first 15 passes. EWU cut that lead by eight points, leaving the score 22-14 at halftime.
The Eagles abandoned running for passing in the second half, as freshman QB Jake Schakel racked up more than 400 yards, including an 11-play, 63-yard touchdown drive. Eastern scored three of the last four touchdowns and a field goal. Eastern recovered an onside kick with a minute left to go, according to UM, and found themselves trailing by five points on the Griz 5-yard line with five seconds on the clock. A muffed spike by Schakel let the clock run out, UM wrote, and the Griz squeaked out a 29-24 victory.
"That (is) about as wild as it gets,” said Mondana head coach Bobby Hauck. “Everything from giving up the onside kick at the end, and I can tell you we weren't good enough on third down on either side of the ball. We had a hard time making plays on the ball. We didn't run it effectively enough, but in the second half, I thought our defense was tremendous, stopping them and not letting them in the end zone.”
Schakel passed for 451 yards on 43-of-63, or 68.3%, the most yardage in a single game since December of 2021, according to EWU. The Eagles had two 100-plus yard receivers against Montana, with Miles Williams grabbing 11 passes for 136 yards and Cole Pruett finishing with 10 catches for 133 yards and one touchdown.
Montana’s defense set a record of its own with eight sacks against Schakel, according to UM Athletics, the most of any Big Sky team to date.
The Eagles will play the last home game of the 2025 season Saturday as they face Northern Colorado. Eastern Washington has a 15-1 record against the Bears, with the lone loss coming in the 1981 season, according to EWU Athletics.
"(EWU is) a team on the rise," said UNC head coach Ed Lamb. "They've gotten better every week; a real testament to their culture. They should've had two or three chances to win at Montana in the final seconds. They're angry, motivated, and confident."
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Moses Lake teachers march downtown
MOSES LAKE — Teachers from across Moses Lake marched from Sinkiuse Square to Frontier Middle School Thursdayin support of the Moses Lake Education Association’s work stoppage. The teachers stayed at Frontier while a band played at Carl Ahlers Park across the street and passing motorists honked. The teachers had been on strike for four days while the union negotiates a new contract with the Moses Lake School District.
Mini-farm for sale has deep Grant County roots
SOAP LAKE — There’s a little piece of history in the mini-farm for sale east of Soap Lake. “It’s been with the same owner since the 1930s,” said Anna Van Diest of Moses Lake Realty Group, who is listing the 25.19-acre property at 20226 NE Adrian Road, just south of SR 28. The well, still in use, was dug in 1931, she added, more than two decades before the Columbia Basin Project brought irrigation water to the Basin. There’s not much left now of the town of Adrian, but if things had gone a little differently in 1910, the Grant County Courthouse might have been located where the farm now stands. When Grant County was formed out of the eastern part of Douglas County in 1909, the city of Ephrata, then just over 300 people, was named the county seat. The people of Adrian got up a petition the following year to grab the county seat away, according to the Washington history site historylink.org, but were defeated in a 945-802 vote. A few remnants of the town and the railroad cutoff nearby are still visible from the road or in aerial photos.
Small, local shops offer unique Christmas gifts
MOSES LAKE — Plenty of people do all their Christmas shopping from the comfort of their laptop. But just a few blocks away, local small businesses are offering things you won’t necessarily find online. “Most of our shoppers, they're looking for something unique, not something they can get from Amazon or from China,” said Ken Haisch, one of six vendors at Third Avenue Antiques in Moses Lake.