EOU moves up one spot in the NAIA Poll
By Paul Hall on Thursday, April 1st, 2021 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – The Frontier Conference announced its weekly Player of the Week award this week and Eastern Oregon University Football swept all three honors. The NAIA also released its Football First Down PlayBook Top-25 Poll and the Mountaineers moved up one spot in the national rankings.
Winning the weekly awards were Kai Quinn for Offense, Zak Donato for defense, and Zachary Cahill for special teams. All three players were key in the Mountaineers 36-33 come-from-behind road win in overtime at Rocky Mountain College.
As a team, EOU now ranks No. 20 in the NAIA Poll after improving to 2-0 on the season. Out of the Frontier Conference, Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho are the only ranked teams. The Coyotes check in at No. 6 this time around, falling one spot from No. 5. The Mountaineers and Yotes showdown this weekend will be a battle of unbeatens as both teams are 2-0 on the year.
Quinn was an all-around weapon for EOU’s offense as he totaled 341 yards on offense. Through the air, he was 24-35 passing for 256 yards and had three touchdowns. On the ground, he carried the ball 17 times for 85 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also had the gamewinning rushing touchdown in overtime to lead EOU to a 2-0 start.
Donato led the Eastern defense in total tackles en route to its second straight win. He had 11 total tackles in the victory with five coming on a solo effort while six were assisted. He also had one tackle for loss.
Cahill handled all kicking for the Mountaineers to help lift them over the Battlin’ Bears in overtime. He was a perfect 3- 3 in extra point attempts and kicked a 43-yard field goal. As a punter, his longest punt of the game was a 60-yard beauty and he had one punt land inside the 20-yard line.
Eastern is back home this weekend as the Mountaineers will host College of Idaho for Senior Day. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. PT inside Community Stadium.
