It’s not 2007, but it sure feels like it for Eastern Washington seniors Matt Nichols and Nathan Overbay, as the Eagles, again, strung together four straight wins — after starting 4-3 — to earn an at-large bid in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

    Saturday, Overbay, a 2005 W.F. West graduate, caught the winning touchdown at Northern Arizona in a 49-45 must-win shootout. On Sunday, it was announced that the Eagles — a month from having a postseason ban lifted by the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeal Committee — were part of the 16-team field.

    “It was the best feeling ever,” said Overbay, who extended his EWU single-season record for touchdowns (12) by a tight end with the grab. “To be banned and have that lifted, and to finish the season as strong as we did … I was just speechless.”

    “To go through the ups and downs we went through — it was tough,” said Nichols, the Eagles’ quarterback who set the Big Sky Conference’s all-time total yards record in the win. “I just did my part in trying to lead these guys and made sure they knew that we did have that chance of the ban being lifted. After all the hard work we put in, we feel like we definitely earned the right to be here.”

    Eagle coach Beau Baldwin, in his second year at the helm, said it’s been a unique journey for the team.

    “Obviously, back in February when you first found out the news, that was a tough thing to hear,” said Baldwin, who was named one of 20 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award Wednesday for the top head coach in the FCS. “We talked about still making the playoffs from the get-go. I have to give credit to these senior leaders.

    “They flushed the bad news,” he continued. “We came out and (beat Montana State) the next day after the ban was lifted; it was a spirited and exciting victory. From then on, our guys haven’t acted any differently. If anything, they’ve worked even harder.”

    The Eagles, after beating MSU, rallied to defeat Portland State, Southern Utah and Saturday’s exciting win over NAU to put themselves in their current position.

    “This team is battle tested,” Baldwin said. “We feel like we’ve been in the playoffs for four weeks now.”

    Saturday, Eastern Washington (8-3) plays at Stephen F. Austin (9-2) in Nacogdoches, Tex., in the first round of the FCS Playoffs.

The Drive at NAU

    Eastern Washington started at their own 26 with 5:13 remaining, when Nichols completed a 22-yard pass to wide receiver Tony Davis on the first play.

    After a five-yard, clock-preserving completion to receiver Ashton Gant, Nichols then found the same target for 36-yards more — setting the Eagles up at the Lumberjacks’ 11-yard line.

    “It was one of those things where I felt like the game was in our hands,” said Nichols, who was selected as the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year Tuesday. “We felt like if we were going to win or lose the game, it was going to be on our seniors.”

    A positive gain didn’t occur immediately, however, as the Eagles lost two yards on a Taiwan Jones rush.

    But from 13-yards out, Baldwin called a designed play-fake that resulted in Nichols connecting with Overbay.

    “We hadn’t really run much of (the play-action bootleg) at all,” Baldwin said. “They were expecting run, Nate (Overbay) got behind them and caught the winning touchdown.”

    “Nate’s a great target for me, especially in the red zone, and is definitely a guy I can count on,” said Nichols, who is a candidate for the Walter Payton Award given to the top player in the FCS. “When he catches the ball short of the end zone, he’s running through two or three guys just to get there. We just have a great chemistry.”

The Eagles left NAU with 3:30 on the clock, and forced a turnover on downs with 34 seconds left, defending from their own 32. Nichols kneeled down on the following play to run the clock out.

    Overbay’s catch was his 43rd on the year, making him the sole record holder of EWU’s single-season receptions list by a tight end. The closest any other end has come to the 6-foot-5, 270-pounder’s numbers was Scott Garske in 1972, who caught 42 passes for 595 yards with five touchdowns — also a former record. And Overbay’s career touchdown mark was raised to 18, topping another mark by Garske at 13. Overbay also was awarded conference honors Tuesday, selected as the first-team tight end.

    Cameron Zuber, also a W.F. West product and a walk-on for the Eagles this year, punted four times in the NAU win, averaging 42.2 yards a punt with a long of 47 yards.

Back to the Playoffs

    The Eagles now enter the playoffs a year removed from their quarterfinals run in 2007, where they lost a 38-35 nail-biter to eventual national champion Appalachian State — which shocked the sports world earlier that season in becoming the first-ever FCS team to beat a ranked BCS team, defeating then-No. 5 Michigan 34-32 at The Big House, en route to winning a third-consecutive title.

    The seniors have taken a lot from that experience, and know that this year won’t be any easier.

    “I learned that you can’t under-estimate any team in the playoffs,” said Nichols, whose normally gaudy offensive production was limited to 185 yards passing, two touchdowns and one interception in his last playoff matchup. “(The Appalachian State Mountaineers) were overly fast; they were definitely a speed up from what we had played against … Now we have one more chance to leave it all on the field.”

    “We just need to take every game one week at a time,” said Overbay, who caught one pass for 27 yards that helped set up an Eagle touchdown in the playoff loss. “The goal is to go all the way. This week is huge for us.”

    Baldwin, who — as an assistant — left the Eagles that year to become the head coach at Central Washington University, said that the key to winning his first playoff game as a Division I coach will be to make sure his players maintain their composure under such a high-pressure environment.

    “At this point of the year, you need to play really well,” Baldwin said. “I’m confident in our seniors, and confident in this group. We have a combination of great talent and great chemistry. I just want to see us leave it all out on the field, like we did last week at NAU.”

    And Overbay figures to be a key component for the Eagles as they try to march deeper into the playoffs than in their previous showing — winning 44-15 at McNeese State, in Lake Charles, La., before falling to the Mountaineers in Boone, N.C.

    “Going into the week, when we put together our red zone plan versus Stephen F. Austin,” Baldwin said, “Nate will play a huge factor because he’s such a tough guy to guard there. One way or another, he makes a mismatch.”

Pro Interest

    Overbay, the nephew of Toronto Blue Jays slugger Lyle Overbay, is considered to be one of Eastern’s top pro prospects this year, according to the EWU Sports Information Department, as other notable tight ends have made their way onto NFL teams with less-favorable numbers throughout their collegiate careers.

    The Chehalis product has career totals of 85 catches for 1,089 yards, and a school record for a tight end with 18 touchdown receptions — fourth most in program history by any position — through 42 games.

    “He’s a rare combination of a big body with incredibly soft hands,” Baldwin said. “He’s got such good hand-eye coordination and ball skills, and is just a tough guy to guard in the red zone.”

    Garske, who finished his career with 106 receptions and 1,477 yards from 1971-73, was drafted in the seventh round (179th pick overall) by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1974.

    Other notable Eagle tight ends — since the school became a member of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in 1983 — were Eric Riley (39 receptions, 543 yards, five touchdowns in 1983), Tony Lenseigne (career totals of 104 catches, 1,399 yards, eight touchdowns from 1988-91), and Dan Curley (career totals of 58 catches, 721 yards, seven touchdowns from 1998-02). All three signed with NFL teams and had short pro careers. Curley was the most recent, after being drafted in the fifth round by the St. Louis Rams in 2003.