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closeMatt Clark couldn't contain his frustration, beating his fists on his thighs and slamming his helmet into the ground. His Western Washington University teammates simply left the field in stunned silence.
After playing so well for three quarters of their season opener against Western Oregon University, the Vikings' offense came up inches short.
Western Oregon stopped the Vikings on a fourth-and-goal play from the 1-yard line with less than 10 minutes to play in the game, and the Wolves marched 99 yards and scored on the ensuing possession to put the game out of reach, as WOU spoiled Western's home opener 36-27 on Saturday, Sept. 6, at Civic Stadium.
Western Washington falls to 0-1 on the season and in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. The Wolves move to 1-1 and 1-0 in conference play.
The Vikings led 20-17 heading into halftime, but were outscored 19-7 over the final two quarters. Western Oregon rolled up more than 250 rushing yards and outgained the Vikings by nearly 100 total yards in the second half, but the Vikings still had a chance to take a late lead.
Quarterback Adam Perry took Western down to within inches of the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter with a somersaulting scramble on third down, but running back Randall Eldridge couldn't punch it in on the next play and the Wolves took over.
"We could have kicked it and tied the game, but we were inches away and we wanted to go for the win," WWU coach Robin Ross said. "We have a senior group out there on offense and I didn't know what the defense had left at that point so we went for it."
The fourth down stop tainted what had been a good opening effort by the Vikings against a Wolves team that had been picked to finish second in the conference in the annual preseason coaches poll. Western's special teams blocked a punt and scored a touchdown and two Vikings tight ends pulled in touchdown grabs.
Perry finished 23 for 38 for 278 yards and three touchdowns, and Eldridge chipped in 80 yards rushing and a receiving score. Western Oregon's D.J. Jackson had 132 yards rushing to lead the Wolves.
Though the game ended on a sour note, there were some bright points. Sophomore Don Thomas emerged as a pass rushing threat, collecting back-to-back sacks in the second quarter and recovered a fumble.
"We'll take some good things away from this," Ross said. "They are a good football team and we came close against them. We have a young defense and they did some good things. We'll evaluate the film, move on and get better from this."
NOTES
The Vikings debuted their new uniforms at the game, blue pants and blue jerseys with a large white strip down the side. Western had been waiting on them to arrive for a couple of weeks now and expected them to come in on Thursday or Friday, but they didn't arrive until 10 a.m. on Saturday. That didn't leave enough to get the name plates sewn onto the back, but they'll be ready to go by Western's second contest. ... WWU junior Jordan Carey might have been the most game-ready player on the field on Saturday. Carey, who transferred into Western this summer, played semi-professionally this spring with the Whatcom Raiders and should be in mid-season form. He opened the game with a 28-yard kickoff return ... It didn't take long for the Vikings to find a way to get former Lynden quarterback Chris Bolt involved. Western brought him in about midway through the first quarter for a QB draw from the shotgun. It resulted in a 3-yard gain.
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