LA GRANDE, Ore. - Eastern Oregon wasn't about to let itself be counted out of the postseason scheme.

Fighting for their playoff lives and hoping to finish the regular season with a win, the No. 22 Mountaineers (7-4, 7-3 Frontier Conference) put up one of the best offensive performances against Carroll College during head coach Mike Van Diest's 11-year tenure.

But not even that could lift the Mountaineers over a Saints team that had already clinched its 10th straight Frontier Conference title and is seeking perfection on a season once more.

Carroll quarterback Gary Wagner threw four touchdown passes, including three to junior receiver Corey Peterson, and the No. 2 Saints (11-0, 10-0) outlasted the Mountaineers 48-43 Saturday at Community Stadium.

"With a team like Eastern Oregon, you expect a shootout," Wagner said. "Our defense played well today, they gave up just a couple of big plays, other than that they played well.

"Offensively, we knew we would have to come out and win field position."

With the pressure on the junior quarterback, Wagner produced. He completed 22-of-29 passing attempts for 391 yards, rallying his team back three times before pulling away in the fourth quarter.

Eastern Oregon quarterback Chris Ware, meanwhile, finished 23-of-53 for 292 yards through the air, and had 10 carries for 107 yards.

While he was able to orchestrate back-to-back scoring drives with 3:38 left in the game, it wasn't enough to pull his team back on top.

"We ran out of time," said Mountaineers head coach Tim Camp, in his second year at EOU. "We had a couple of missed opportunities; we ran by them and we didn't make the play."

No one took advantage of both team's mistakes more than the quarterbacks.

Wagner hit junior tight end Bubba Bartlett for a team-high 11 receptions and 123 yards. Meanwhile, Saturday was a day for Peterson, the junior receiver who returned to the gridiron after missing last week's 26-10 win over the University of Montana Western with the flu.

Peterson needed just four catches to rack up 132 yards and three touchdowns. His first came from 30 yards out and gave the Saints a seven-point lead on the first drive of the game.

His next two both came on 47-yard passes, and would help keep the Saints at a healthy enough lead in the second half.

"Today, the touchdowns that Corey scored were solely on him sticking his routes and being faster than the defensive backs, and wanting it more," Wagner said. "Corey created that touchdown for himself, throwing's the easy part."

While Peterson found an open spot in the middle of the field to give his team the early lead, the Mountaineers answered back two series later when Ware scrambled right, cut left and then ran away from the defense for a 65-yard touchdown run.

It was the first rushing touchdown the Saints have given up all season, but wouldn't be the last. The Mountaineers also completed the 2-point conversion to take the lead.

"To their credit they did a good job," Van Diest said about the opposition. "But I'm not pleased with our defense.

"Our guys got tired and we just made too many mistakes. We gave up three long touchdowns, two of them were assignment mistakes, one was a missed tackle."

After senior running back Gabe Le scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to give his team back the lead at 13-8 (Carroll would fail on the 2-point conversion), EOU's Kirk Miller scored on a 6-yard touchdown catch to put the Mountaineers up 15-13 with 7:25 left in the half.

The defenses picked up soon after as Wagner threw a pick to Jeff McNally over the middle of the field. The Mounties couldn't capitalize, however, going three-and-out on the next two possessions before giving the Saints offense one more chance to take the lead.

As he had done before, Wagner charged down the field and hit Bartlett twice as he was headed out of bounds, then tossed one more long bomb over the middle to an open Peterson, who only had to run to the end zone to give Carroll a 21-15 lead heading into the half.

Van Diest considered the touchdown a game-changer for the Saints, who would need the momentum to hold off the Mountaineers.

Ware came out of the intermission gunning, hitting Jordyn Jackson for what looked to be a short gain but then broke open. The senior wide receiver cut to the outside and raced along the sideline before getting into the end zone on a 74-yard play. It gave the Mountaineers a 22-21 lead with 10:30 left in the quarter.

That's when the Saints put together three unanswered touchdowns, the first on a 4-yard run by freshman Chance Demarais, the second a 1-yard punch by junior John Camino and, finally, Peterson's final touchdown of the game.

Peterson's catch put the team up 41-22 with 11:38 left, but as the clock started to wind down the action really started to heat up.

A blown Carroll assignment allowed Jackson to score another touchdown on the next series, this time on fourth-and-10. A blown tackle, meanwhile, allowed Saints sophomore receiver Matt Ritter to break away on a simple screen pass for a 68-yard touchdown reception.

"It was a fast-paced game - a lot of attempts, a lot of plays on both sides of the ball," said junior cornerback Pat Regan. "They were just as tired as we were, but that's when we've got to buckle it up and give whatever you have left."

Ritter's extra effort proved to be the winning play as EOU's Mike Corrall and Hayden Plocher both scored within the final four minutes of the game. Corral's touchdown came on a 46-yard pass, while Plocher ran the ball in for a 6-yard touchdown with 1:11 on the clock.

EOU attempted offside kicks after both scores, but the first was covered by Demarais and the second booted out of bounds to put the ball in Carroll's hands and end the game.

Le finished with 81 yards on 23 carries to lead the field.

Ware connected with Jackson eight times for 142 yards and hit seven total receivers.

While the Mountaineers' season comes to an end, the Saints will have two weeks before they face off with their next opponent in the first round of the playoffs.

"To their credit, they kept things alive, but we've got to find a way to play better," Van Diest said. "We'll watch film and see why players missed assignments. Is it my defense, is it my play-calling or is it a lack of focus or what? We've got to shore it up, because it's not the Frontier Conference anymore. It's playoff time."

Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 or jeff.windmueller@ helenair.com.

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