Eastern to Play Central Washington in Seattle on Sept. 11

Long-time rivals Eagles and Wildcats meet in the “Showdown on the Sound” at Qwest Field

In the second version of the “Showdown on the Sound,” the Eastern Washington University versus Central Washington University football game on Sept. 11 will be played at Qwest Field in Seattle. Kickoff has been set for 6 p.m. with the two schools co-hosting the event.

Last season, Eastern defeated Portland State 47-10 on Oct. 31 at Qwest in the inaugural “Showdown on the Sound.” Central annually plays its “Battle in Seattle” at Qwest, and will take on Western Oregon there on Oct. 16.

"We look forward to playing a long-time rival at a premier venue,” said Eastern athletic director Bill Chaves. “We hope that a tremendous number of alumni and fans rally around this fantastic opportunity and come out and support two of the best football programs in their respective divisions.”

Tickets for the game will be available through Ticketmaster, the Qwest Field stadium box office, and other locations to be announced. Further game and ticket information will be posted online at www.goeags.com as it becomes available.

Eastern is 33-30-4 against Central Washington in a series that started in 1921. Central, ranked third in last year’s final NCAA Division II poll, beat Eastern 21-14 the last time the schools met in 2006.

Central has been in the NCAA Division II Playoffs each of the last three seasons, including the 2007 season when its head coach was current Eagle head coach Beau Baldwin. The Wildcats are 32-6 over the past three seasons and finished the 2009 season 12-1. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Division II Playoffs to Northwest Missouri State 21-20.

Eastern has qualified for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs in four of the last six seasons. A year ago, Eastern was 8-4 and lost to Stephen F. Austin 44-33 in the first round of the playoffs. Eastern finished the year ranked 13th in FCS.

2010 EWU Schedule

(all times Pacific, subject to change)
9/2 - at Nevada, 6 p.m.
9/11 - vs. Central Washington at Qwest Field in Seattle, 6 p.m.
9/18 - Montana, 4:05 p.m.
9/25 - at Montana State, 12:05 p.m.
10/2 - at Weber State, 12:35 p.m.
10/9 - Northern Arizona, 1:05 p.m.
10/16 - at Northern Colorado, 12:35 p.m.
10/23 - Sacramento State, 1:05 p.m.
10/30 - at Portland State, 5:05 p.m.
11/6 - Open
11/13 - Southern Utah, 1:05 p.m.
11/20 - Idaho State, 1:05 p.m.

EWU vs. CWU Notes 

Central Grads Galore on Eagle Staff: Eastern Washington University's coaching staff is a who's-who of Central Washington University graduates.

Head coach Beau Baldwin (’96) has spent his entire 20-year career as a player and coach at either CWU or EWU. His 16-year record as a collegiate coach is 105-70-1 (.599) with a 59-33 league mark (.641), including one national championship, five conference championships and a 7-6-1 record in seven post-season playoff appearances.

Eastern’s associate head coach and defensive coordinator, John Graham (’92), spent two seasons as a player at Central and 13 more as a coach. Defensive line coach Ryan Sawyer (’03) was a four-year starter for the Wildcats at defensive end and also spent four years working under Graham. Quarterbacks coach Zak Hill (’04) was a record-breaking All-America quarterback at Central, then started his coaching career at Eastern under Baldwin, who coached Hill at Central for three seasons. Hill’s father, Butch Hill, is a member of CWU’s Hall of Fame after earning All-America honors in baseball and also playing as quarterback for the Wildcats in the mid-1960’s.

Torey Hunter, current defensive backs coach for the Eagles, spent the 2007 season coaching receivers at Central under Baldwin. Eastern assistant athletic director for development Marc Hughes and sports information director Dave Cook also attended CWU.

Former Eagle Keith Grennan is entering his fourth season in the NFL, including his second in Cleveland after two years in San Diego. He played for the Eagles in 2005 and 2006 after playing as a tight end for Central in 2003, with his best game coming in a 48-29 loss at Eastern when he caught five passes for 82 yards. Hill was 28-of-48 for 359 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in that game that wasn’t decided until EWU scored the last 17 points of the game.

On a lighter note, Grennan was involved in a “suspicious” incident while at Eastern with Wildcat player Chris Anderson -- who was a one time in the Eagle program. Grennan was forced to miss one of Eastern’s spring scrimmages after Anderson accidentally hooked him in the back of the head when they were fishing at Badger Lake near Cheney.

Several recent Eastern coaches from a variety of sports also attended Central or previously coached there -- Malik Roberson, Brian Strandley, Mike Burns, Carl Howell and G.E. Coleman.

Baldwin enters his third season as head coach at Eastern, going 8-4 in 2009 after a 6-5 debut season in 2008. In 2007, as head coach at Central Washington, Baldwin was 10-3, giving him a 24-12 (.667) head coaching record. He is 17-7 (.708) in league games as a head coach, including an 11-5 mark in two seasons as head coach in the Big Sky Conference.

As a player, Baldwin was a two-time team captain and completed 121-of-197 passes for 1,655 yards and eight touchdowns. His career completion percentage of .614 is a school record. In a 38-35 win versus Simon Fraser in 1991, he set single-game school records for attempts (52), completions (32), yards (467), total plays (66) and total yards (550). He had a 6-yard touchdown pass with four seconds left to give the Wildcats the win.

Before Baldwin took the head coaching position at Central, the head coach for the Wildcats was current Idaho State head coach John Zamberlin. A former NFL linebacker who spent three seasons as Eastern's defensive line coach from 1992-94, Zamberlin was on EWU’s staff when it won the Big Sky Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs in 1992.

Series History: Former rivals when both were members of NAIA and the Evergreen Conference, the Eagles and Wildcats have played just six times since 1979 when Eastern left NAIA for NCAA Division II and eventually the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision.

With the first Eastern-Central game taking place in 1921, Eastern leads the all-time series 33-30-4, including a 38-20 win in 1984 in Spokane, a 44-14 triumph in 1999 at Woodward Field and a 38-21 victory in 2001, also in Cheney. In 2003, the Eagles won 48-29 at Woodward, needing to score 27 of the game's final 34 points to overcome a 22-21 deficit. Eastern scored 29 points in the first quarter when the two teams met in 2004 en route to a 39-8 Eastern win, but a youthful Eastern team lost 21-14 to the Wildcats in the last meeting on Sept. 16, 2006, at Woodward Field. Eastern finished just 3-8 that season, but went 9-4, 6-4 and 8-4 in the next three seasons with a pair of playoff berths.

Big, early leads for the Eagles were commonplace since the series resumed in 1984. In the 1984 game played at Albi Stadium, Eastern opened a 35-0 lead in the first 21 1/2 minutes of the game and led 38-7 at halftime. In 1999, Eastern opened a 31-0 lead mid-way through the third quarter. In the 2001 game, Eastern's Lamont Brightful scored three touchdowns in a 15-minute span as Eastern took a 24-7 lead early in the second half. In 2004, Eastern led 36-0, including a 29-point first quarter.

In 1999, the EWU-CWU match-up was Central’s first football game as a member of NCAA Division II. That was the year the Wildcats and most other Northwest small colleges made the jump from NAIA to NCAA Division II or III.

Series Results Versus Central Washington

Central Washington
(33-30-4)
1921 - L - 0-6 - A
1922 - L - 10-13 - H
1923 - W - 20-2 - A
1924 - W - 33-0 - H
1925 - W - 6-0 - A
1926 - L - 7-31 - H
1927 - L - 7-25 - A
1928 - L - 7-13 - H
1929 - L - 7-20 - A
1930 - L - 6-12 - H
1931 - L - 6-7 - A
1932 - T - 0-0 - H
1933 - L - 6-13 - A
1934 - W - 8-0 - H
1935 - T - 0-0 - A
1936 - W - 12-6 - H
1937 - W - 18-0 - A
1938 - W - 6-0 - H
1939 - W - 7-0 - A
1940 - W - 14-7 - H
1941 - W - 7-0 - A
1942 - L - 6-15 - H
1946 - L - 6-7 - A
1947 - W - 16-13 - H
1948 - W - 21-6 - A
1949 - W - 20-0 - H
1950 - W - 26-0 - A
1951 - W - 25-6 - H
1952 - L - 14-20 - A
1953 - W - 34-9 - H
1954 - L - 13-27 - A
1955 - W - 19-6 - H
1956 - T - 6-6 - A
1957 - L - 13-20 - H
1958 - L - 6-27 - H
1959 - L - 12-18 - A
1960 - L - 6-41 - H
1961 - L - 0-35 - A
1961 - L - 6-26 - H
1962 - L - 3-32 - A
1963 - L - 13-14 - H
1964 - W - 20-7 - A
1964 - W - 14-0 - H
1965 - W - 20-7 - S
1966 - T - 28-28 - S
1967 - W - 25-21 - H
1967 - W - 28-23 - A
1968 - L - 12-14 - A
1968 - L - 0-10 - H
1969 - L - 7-44 - A
1969 - W - 20-19 - H
1970 - L - 7-27 - A
1971 - W - 27-14 - H
1972 - L - 19-36 - H
1973 - L - 16-29 - A
1974 - W - 19-14 - H
1975 - L - 10-25 - A
1976 - W - 30-17 - H
1977 - L - 21-27 - A
1978 - W - 21-16 - A
1979 - W - 9-0 - H
1984 - W - 38-20 - S
1999 - W - 44-14 - H
2001 - W - 38-21 - H
2003 - W - 48-29 - H
2004 - W - 39-8 - H
2006 - L - 14-21 - H

H=Home, A=Away, S=Spokane's Albi Stadium.