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CHENEY, Wash. (AP) -- Matt Nichols threw for 256 yards and four touchdowns as Eastern Washington kept alive its postseason chances with a 38-16 victory over Weber State on Saturday.
Nichols added a career-high 103 yards rushing for the 15th-ranked Eagles (8-3, 6-2 Big Sky Conference), winners of four straight.
Freshman Cameron Higgins was 21-of-44 for 238 yards for the Wildcats (5-6, 4-4), with one touchdown.
EWU, second place in the Big Sky behind Montana, would need one of eight at-large berths to qualify for the 16-team Football Championship Subdivision field scheduled to be announced Sunday.
With Eastern trailing 16-14 midway through the third quarter, Nichols engineered back-to-back scoring drives, hitting Brynsen Brown and Nathan Overbay on TD passes that put EWU up 28-16.
The pass to Overbay came on a 4th-and-1 from the WSU 36 with 31 seconds left in the third quarter.
Brown finished with six catches for 99 yards for the Eagles, who scored 24 unanswered points in the second half.
Nichols was 18-of-37, including first-half scoring passes to Shane Eller and A.J. Jimerson. He was sacked once and had no interceptions.
Eastern's defense and a muddy field combined to slow a Weber State offense that had averaged 57.7 points and more than 600 yards during its three-game win streak. The Wildcats managed 325 total yards.
Higgins' 40-yard scoring pass to Tim Toone had put Weber State up 16-14. Higgins was sacked three times and intercepted once.
Trevyn Smith rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown and Bryant Eteuati had seven catches for 74 yards for the Wildcats.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
