A 76-point offensive explosion last weekend ignited the Eastern Oregon University football team against top-ranked Carroll College Saturday — for a half.

Eastern led 10-7 in the second quarter and, despite trailing 14-10 at the half, had fans asking about the last time it beat Carroll.

Then the third quarter arrived.

Carroll scored three touchdowns in an 84-second span and rolled to a 48-10 victory in a Frontier Conference game at Community Stadium in La Grande, Ore.

Junior Gabe Le ran for 119 yards and two touchdowns, freshman Dane Broadhead threw for 183 yards and two touchdowns and the Saints’ defense collected five sacks and four turnovers in the win, which moved them to 6-0 overall, 5-0 in conference games.

“They were all fired up and got after us pretty good in that first half,” Le said. “But, we play for 60 minutes and that’s what makes us a tough team to beat.”

“It was a fun game,” Carroll coach Mike Van Diest said. “Our defense played great, we had a lot of different guys score, I saw a lot of high-fiving, even our second- and third-team defense got to make a goalline stand. It was a fun game.”

The Saints play at home Saturday against the University of Montana-Western in the start of the second-half of the conference schedule.

Eastern Oregon, which beat Rocky Mountain 76-55 last week, dropped to 2-3 on the season and in conference games. The Mountaineers got 191 yards passing from freshman quarterback Chris Ware, but managed just 123 total yards in the second half.

The Mounties were still fired up at the start of the second half, causing Carroll to punt after three plays on its first two drives of the third quarter.

That’s when punter Zach Thiry became an offensive weapon with punts of 59 and 63 yards that gave the Eastern offense first down on its 4 and 2 on successive drives. The Mounties punted after three plays on the first possession - getting a 56-yarder from Thomas Akers, but fumbled away the second drive at their 4.

Carroll scored in two plays for a 21-10 lead with 9:56 left in the quarter.

Senior linebacker Owen Koeppen intercepted his second pass of the game on the next possession and Broadhead found Christian Prosperie with a 31-yard scoring pass and a 28-10 lead with 9:09 left in the quarter.

Eastern started its next drive at its 22, and, after a Mike Paffhausen sack, Ware avoided another sack near his goalline by throwing a short pass to Jordyn Jackson. But, the ball bounced off Jackson’s hands directly to Carroll defensive lineman Mike Ogrin. He ran 10 yards for a touchdown and a 34-10 lead with 8:32 left in the third quarter.

The score went from 14-10 to 34-10 in a matter of minutes.

“I do kickoffs, too, so I was out on the field, back-to-back-to-back,” said Thiry, who averaged 50 yards on three punts. “It was great to see our guys score so much, especially (Ogrin).”

Ogrin smiled broadly while reflecting on the score.

“I think that’s my first touchdown since seventh grade,” he said. “I was in the right place and got the ball and I got to score just like a running back. It was great.”

After the game, Mountaineers’ coach Tim Camp shook his head in frustration about that sequence of events.

“We could not have planned that out any better for them,” Eastern Oregon coach Tim Camp said. “We did a lot good things in the game, but we put some things on their laps that hurt us pretty good.

“This is going to be a tough film to watch, a bitter pill to swallow.”

The Saints defense, challenged by coaches to control Eastern’s explosive offense, kept the Mounties under wraps other than two drives. Eastern drove 68 yards in 12 plays on its third drive to tie the game at 7-all, and then had a 15-play drive end with a 31-yard field goal and a 10-7 lead with 10:22 left in the first half.

For the remainder of the game Eastern managed just five first downs.

“We didn’t change much of what we were doing, we just played good team defense,” said Koeppen, who nearly returned his first interception for a touchdown. “And, it helped that they had to start drives inside their 5 or 10 yard line.”

After taking its 10-7 lead, Eastern forced another punt, but took over at its 3. Carroll forced a punt after three plays and drove 41 yards on four plays for the go-ahead score, a 33-yard pass from Broadhead to Corey Peterson with 2:05 left in the first half.

“It’s tough on your offense when you start down there,” said Ware. “And, they did a good job of stopping us. Their (defensive line) had a great game.”

The Saints finished with six different players: Le, Prosperie, Peterson, Ogrin, John Camino and Matt Ritter, scoring touchdowns.

Carrroll also stopped the Mountineers on fourth and goal from the 2 late in the game.

Carroll College 7 7 20 14 - 48

E. Oregon 7 3 0 0 - 10

First Quarter

CC - Gabe Le 33 run (Connor Janhunen kick), 7:35

EOU - Chris Ware 2 run (Thomas Aker kick), 3:32

Second Qaurter

EOU - FG Akers 31, 10:22

CC - Corey Peterson 33 pass from Dane Broadhead (Janhunen kick), 2:05

Third Quarter

CC - Le 2 run (Janhunen kick), 9:56

CC - Chris Prosperie 31 pass from Broadhead (Janhunen kick), 9:09

CC - Michael Ogrin 10 interception return (kick failed), 8:32

Fourth Quarter

CC - John Camino 4 run (Janhunen kick), 13:52

CC - Matt Ritter 10 run (Janhunen kick), 6:31

RUSHING: CC - Gabe Le 16-119, John Camino 9-55, Matt Ritter 4-44, Jeff Deal 7-22, Chris Prosperie 1-2, TEAM 2-(minus 7), Dane Broadhead 6-(minus 12). EOU - Chris Ware 23-57, Jordyn Jackson 9-22, Gavin Smith 8-20, Joel Harlan 2-3.

PASSING: Broadhead 15-22-183-0, Ritter 4-5-45-0. EOU - Ware 16-35-191-3.

RECEIVING: CC - Corey Peterson 5-91, Travis Browne 5-51, Marshall McEwen 4-32, Chris Prosperie 1-31, Stevie Sloan 1-10, Le 1-9, Bubba Bartlett 1-4, Brian Sloan 1-0. EUO - Justin Udy 4-54, Kirk Miller 3-49, Smith 3-18, Richard Abrams 2-38, Jackson 2-17, Justin Reynolds 1-8, Ryan Warner 1-7.

Sports Editor Cliff Pfenning: 447-4070 or cliff.pfenning@helenair.com