Hecker gets two carries for No. 1 ranked Eagles

CHENEY — Thanks to losses by the top three ranked teams — and its own marquee victory over second-ranked Montana State — the Eastern Washington University football team moved up five spots to the top position in this week’s Sports Network NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Top 25 Poll released Monday. The rankings are selected by a national panel of sportswriters, broadcasters and sports information directors.

“It’s exciting for our program,” said Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin. “To be ranked No.1 — and for the third time in three years — takes a lot of work from a lot of people. I’m proud of everyone involved in getting us to this point. From here we have to keep focusing on the task at hand, which is the Sacramento State game.

“But I’m not going to undersell what is special,” he added. “A lot of programs go a lot of years without being ranked No. 1 for a single season, let alone being ranked No. 1 for three-straight years.”

Former Sandpoint running back Cody Hecker rushed two times for 26 yards, a tidy 13 yards per carry average, in his only carries of the season in a 55-17 rout of North Dakota recently.

The Eagles are 5-1, with the only defeat coming in a 24-20 loss to Washington State. They host Sacramento State on Saturday for Homecoming.