Complete Statistics

GREELEY, Colo. - A season-high 110 penalty yards were extremely costly as the Northern Colorado football team dropped a 31-16 decision to Eastern Washington this afternoon.

The Bears (1-8, 1-5 Big Sky) were able to move the football, amassing 449 total offensive yards, compared to 336 for the Eagles (4-5, 3-3 Big Sky), but were limited to three field goals and a touchdown.

The game was close at halftime, 7-6, but Taiwan Jones of Eastern Washington returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown as the Eagles tallied 14 points in the third quarter to break open the lead.

For the third time this season, a NC quarterback led the team in rushing as junior Bryan Waggener tied his career-best with 65 yards on a career-best 16 carries. He also completed 28-of-47 passes for 341 yards and one touchdown.

Freshman wide receiver Dominic Gunn had a breakout day, catching eight passes for a career-best 107 yards and tallied 34 yards on punt returns for 141 all-purpose on the day. Junior Alex Thompson and sophomore Brandon Smith each caught five passes for 89 and 47 yards, respectively, while senior tight end caught a 15-yard touchdown strike and amassed 50 yards on the day.

Junior kicker Michael York was good on all four of his kicks, making field goals from 21, 34 and 27 yards and an extra point to bring his season scoring total to 51 points to lead all players.

Each team turned the ball over once as the Eagles lost a fumble and the Bears threw an interception.

Northern Colorado closes out the 2008 season with its final two games on the road as they head to Sacramento State next Saturday and Portland State the following week. The game against the Hornets on the 15^th is scheduled to kick off at 2:05 p.m. Pacific, 1:05 p.m. Mountain.

Stay tuned to uncbears.com for more game information.