From the opening kickoff on Saturday, it was a shootout at Mustang Memorial field. Cal Poly Football did not start with possession, but it only took three plays from scrimmage on either side for them to start the scoring with a 31-yard touchdown to receiver Logan Booher.
From there it was off to the races for both sides, as the Mustangs scored 21 first quarter points to power a 43-34 victory on senior night.
It was a back and forth battle throughout, but the Mustangs (4-8, 2-6 Big Sky) led the Eagles (5-7, 4-4 Big Sky) for all but a couple of minutes in the second half.
Before the game Cal Poly honored their 29 seniors and 16 of their student managers
Red Hot Offense
From the get-go Cal Poly’s offense was firing on all cylinders, turning their first play from scrimmage into a touchdown to Booher.
“We saw on film that the corners bite down pretty hard,” Booher said. “We decided to go out there, start out fast and go out and up.”
The Mustangs started their third different quarterback of the season, giving Anthony Grigsby Jr. the starting nod after his performance against Idaho State.
Grigsby threw for over 300 yards on 21-37 passing, with three touchdowns.
Tight end Alek Marshall and receiver Fidel Pitts had monster games to go along with Booher. All three had at least 65 yards and a touchdown.
Most of the damage through the air was done in the first quarter, but Pitts’ touchdown reception in the fourth quarter gave the Mustangs the lead for good.
“We have just been a lot more locked in with communication and trusting each other,” Grigsby said.
It wasn’t a clean game for the offense by any stretch of the imagination. Grigsby threw two interceptions, and put the ball on the deck for a third turnover that resulted in an early touchdown for the Eagles.
The much maligned running game also came through for the Mustangs. As a unit they collected 141 yards and a touchdown, though a fumble near the end of the game gave Eastern Washington a chance that they were unable to cash in on.
Either way, it was a complete game for the Cal Poly offense, who put up over 500 total yards of offense in their highest scoring output against a Division-I program this season.
Defense comes through when it matters
Eastern Washington was able to keep pace with the Cal Poly offense, but when the chips were down the Mustang defense came up with key stops.
It started on the second play of the game, when linebacker Troy Bean dropped into coverage and picked off Eagles quarterback Kaden Rolfsness. Eastern Washington has had similar uncertainty under center to Cal Poly, with Rolfsness representing their fourth starting quarterback this season.
Rolfsness would cause problems on the ground for the defense all night despite throwing three interceptions, he carried the ball for three touchdowns while also throwing for 236 yards.
“With the QB run game they add an extra hat to the ball,” linebacker Kenny Olson said. “We just made adjustments throughout the game based on if we knew it was a passing situation or a running situation.”
Special teams also had their own flashes of weakness. Eastern Washington had multiple big returns called back for various penalties, including one seven minutes left in the game that negated a touchdown return that would have made it a one possession game.
The Eagles still put together a good drive before linebacker Mikey D’Amato nabbed the second Mustang interception of the night, one that threatened to ice the game for good.
“I think that the energy picked up and we felt if we could make them have long fields we were good enough to force their hand,” head coach Paul Wulff said.
A fumble gave Eastern Washington new life, one that was quickly snuffed out for good by the third Mustang interception by safety Jeremiah Bernard lurking in coverage.
The defense was able to hold when Eastern Washington was not given good field position either off a turnover or on a returned kick. All but one of the Eagles scoring drives started at the Eastern Washington 40 or better.
What is next for Cal Poly Football?
It is the first four-win season since 2018 for the Mustangs, then under head coach Tim Walsh. The win also snaps a six game losing streak dating back to their matchup against UC Davis.
Cal Poly now heads to the offseason, starting the search for a head coach after it was announced that Paul Wulff would be let go.
Whoever the new coach is will have the Madden Center completed sometime in the offseason. The new facility should bolster the team’s recruiting efforts and player development as the Mustangs look to return to the postseason for the first time since 2019.
