LAGRANDE, Ore. - It didn't take long for the Carroll College football team to flash its national-championship form.

The Saints were spectacular for the first half and solid in the second as they started their drive for a fourth straight national championship with a convincing 44-14 win over Eastern Oregon at Community Stadium.

The Saints posted 37 points in the first half as they mixed the run and the pass effectively and got plenty of contributions from newcomers to overwhelm the Mountaineers and coast to the win.

After the Saints were stopped on their first drive they scored on the next three possessions with two of the scores coming from a combo that could be easily nicknamed Tyler squared.

Senior quarterback Tyler Emmert found senior wideout Tyler Peterson on a 34-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring and the pair hooked up later on a 10-yard scoring pass to give the Saints a 21-0 lead.

Peterson, who redshirted last season after

transferring from the University of Montana, used his considerable speed to run past the Mountaineer defensive backs. EOU consistently used man coverage to try to limit Peterson, but had very little answer for the Helena High product. He finished with five catches for 98 yards and three touchdowns. The third coming when Emmert lofted a nice pass to Peterson who had beaten EOU standout Justin Alsterlund. Alsterlund, who was billed as the Mountaineers top offensive threat, but played both ways. For the most part, he was a non-factor in the contest, logging time mostly at cornerback for the game. He had two tackles and four yards rushing. "Any time a team comes out and plays man on you, they have a group of talented defensive backs, but we have Tyler Emmert back there and he is a genius at picking plays and picking apart schemes like that," Peterson said. "A lot of things worked for us today. We were in the right place at the right time for a lot of things. We got momentum and went from there." All three facets of the game were rolling along smoothly for the Saints in the first half as consistent defensive pressure caused havoc with the Mountaineer offense. Great Falls product Bobby Anderson dumped Mountaineer quarterback Scott Jensen for a safety. In all, Carroll had six sacks on the day.

"Coming in we weren't sure what they were going to run on offense, but as far as the defensive line, we made sure that we got some guys in there to stay fresh and wear down their offensive line," said defensive nose tackle Chris Ramstead. "The calls seemed to work all the first half. They couldn't really do anything against us and we came out pretty fired up."

Special teams also got into the act.

Late in the second quarter, Cody Zimmerman corralled Eastern Oregon punter Greg Fullerton at the Eastern Oregon nine yard line, and that led to a 5-yard touchdown run by Tyler Emmert.

When the dust had settled in the first half, the Saints had a 37-0 lead late in the second quarter and were in no danger of being upset by EOU.

However, the Mountaineers showed a little spark late in the second quarter and for much of the second half.

Jensen and wide receiver Jomo Wilson proved to be a potent combination as they hooked up on a 39-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline with 11 seconds left in the half. The final two plays by the Mountaineers totaled 59 yards and more than doubled their entire offensive output for the first half.

Wilson was EOU's only consistent offensive force in the game grabbing 10 passes for 148 yards.

The 37-7 score held for much of the second half . The Saints rotated in new and often times young players and the EOU offense was able to move the ball effectively at times only to see drives stall inside the red zone.

The Saints relied heavily on the running of Jed Thomas and freshman Sean Herrin. Herrin, a Helena High standout, finished as the leading rusher on the afternoon with 83 yards on eight carries.

"The o-line just blew it up for me,"Herrin said. "It seemed like every time I ran the ball, there was a huge hole."

Carroll College coach Mike Van Diest also gave credit to the Saints offensive front for the success of the running game.

"Thought o-line did great job on counter plays and staying on blocks," he said. "They did a tremendous job with (Dan) Mazurek, (Nick) Hammond and (Jason) Ostler pulling and (Kyle) Baker does great job middle.

"We picked up stunts well and we knew what they were running at us. For the most part they gave Tyler time. I thought the line did a great job with (Bryson) Pelc, (Bryan) Camino and (Kyle) Cicero, three new guys in there. It was great to see."

The consistent running attack shaved time off the clock. Carroll had five drives in the second half, while EOU had four. Two of the Mountaineer marches ended in frustration as Cody Bloom missed a field goal midway through the third quarter. On EOU's first drive of the fourth quarter a 17-play drive fell apart when Jeff Shirley sacked Jensen at the Saint 30-yard line on fourth-down.

"When we got into the red zone and ran more four-man and five-man fronts, and we were able to penetrate their line. Obviously, in the red zone there is a little more intensity and a little more urgency to get in there and get the every ball," Van Diest said.

The only two scores of the half came late in the game. Carroll's tally came when John Barnett bulled his way for an 18-yard touchdown. Barnett, who came in relief of Emmert, ran for seven on a 10-play drive.

EOU scored a meaningless touchdown with 11 seconds left in the game.

Emmert finished with a solid day completing 17-of-26 passes for 250 yards. Barnett had 78 yards rushing and Thomas finished with 72 yards on the ground.

The Saints will now turn their attention to a bigger fish as they will host their home opener next Saturday against Azusa Pacific, currently ranked No. 4 in the latest NAIA poll. The two teams met twice last season with Carroll winning once in Los Angeles and also claiming the second win in Helena in the NAIA playoffs.

Carroll 14 23 0 7 - 44

EOU 0 7 0 7 - 14

First quarter

Carroll - Tyler Peterson 34 pass from Tyler Emmert

(Marcus Miller kick) 9:31

Carroll - Jed Thomas 4 run (Miller kick) 3:48

Second quarter

Carroll - Peterson 10 pass from Emmert (Miller kick)

14:53

Carroll - Bobby Anderson safety 13:59

Carroll - Emmert 5 run (Chaet kick) 5:03

Carroll - Peterson 31 pass from Emmert (Chaet kick)

2:18

EOU - Jomo Wilson 39 pass from Scott Jensen (Cody

Bloom kick) :11

Fourth quarter

Carroll - John Barnett 18 run (Miller kick) 3:30

EOU - Tyronne Gross 2 run (Cody Bloom kick) :21

Team stats

CC EOU

First downs 27 17

Rushing 42-269 39-125

Comp-att 18-28-0 25-37-0

Passing yards 255 237

Total yards 498 307

Fumbles 1-0 2-0

Penalties 7-55 3-15

Time of Possession 28:47 31:13

Sacks 6-38 3-11

Individual stats

Rushing: Carroll - Sean Herrin 8-88, John Barnett

9-78, Jed Thomas 15-72, Tyler Emmert 8-31. EOU - Scott

Jensen 18-65, Jessy Denny 5-24, Eddie Robinson 5-20,

Tyronne Gross 7-12, Justin Alsterlund 2-4.

Passing: Carroll - Tyler Emmert 17-26-0 250; John

Barnett 1-2-0 5. EOU - Scott Jensen 25-37-0 237.

Receiving: Carroll - Tyler Peterson 5-98, Dustin

Michaelis 4-40, Zach Bumgarner 3-27, Jed Thomas 2-33,

Travis Brown 1-29, Marshall McEwen 1-17, Bryce Doak

1-6, Casey Crites 1-5. EOU - Jomo Wilson 10-148,

Tyronne Gross 3-12, Deandre Amos 3-8, Devin Smith

2-18, Devin Smith 2-18. Cameron Ketner 2-17, James

Mayfield 2-12, Jessy Denny 2-9, Eddie Robinson 1-13.