Montana stays undefeated after Eastern Washington QB fumbles spike attempt

It definitely wasn’t on the Joe Pisarcik level, but the result was the same nonetheless.

While trying to stop the clock with only seconds remaining, Eastern Washington quarterback Jake Schakel fumbled the ball on a spike attempt with his team at the Montana 5-yard line. A scrum ensued, with players from both teams trying to pounce on the ball. EWU’s Marcus Lloyd ultimately wound up with it at the 10, but the clock had run out.

The Grizzlies’ 29-24 win improved their record to 10-0 overall and 6-0 in the Big Sky. Montana came into the game ranked No. 3 in the committee rankings and No. 2 in the FCS coaches poll. Eastern Washington dropped to 4-6 overall and 3-3 in the Big Sky.

Schakel, a redshirt freshman making his first start, was trending toward being the hero. Moments earlier, Schakel threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Cole Pruett with 1:01 to play. Eastern Washington then recovered the onside kick.

Four Schakel pass completions and a 15-yard penalty pushed Eastern Washington to the Montana 5. But the clock was ticking and the Eagles had no timeouts left. On third-and-1 with seven seconds left, Schakel took the snap and tried to spike the ball, which would have stopped the clock and given his team one final play to go for the win. But he didn’t get a good grasp of the ball, and it slipped out of his hands and onto the ground. Game over.

Despite the game-ending gaffe, Schakel had a strong day, completing 43 of 63 passes for 451 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

“I’m proud of the team, in all three phases,” Schakel told the Spokesman-Review. “No moral victories. We were 15 feet away.”

“We just couldn’t collect ourselves enough to be able to execute in that moment, and that’s unfortunate,” Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best said. “We’re not going to reflect on that one play and wonder ‘what if,’ because there are 59 minutes and 56 seconds we played outstanding football.”

“I know everybody on defense is really proud of Jake and the way he played,” Eagles linebacker Read Sunn said. “You can’t hang your hat on one play. There is never a football game that comes down to one play.”

Montana quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat threw for 250 yards and two touchdowns.