Eastern Washington Beats Maine, Advances to FCS Title Game vs. North Dakota St.

Eastern Washington is onto the FCS national championship game after its 50-19 blowout win over Maine in Saturday's semifinals.

Eagles quarterback Eric Barriere threw seven touchdown passes in the game, four of them to Nsimba Webster in a dominant offensive performance. The squad led 28-0 at halftime and held on in the second half as the tournament's No. 3 seed advanced in the playoffs with its 11th win of the season.

Eastern Washington will now take on No. 1 North Dakota State on Jan. 5 with the Bison seeking their seventh championship in the last eight years.

The Eagles entered the game with the No. 4 scoring offense in FCS and showed why with touchdowns on three of their first four drives.

Barriere was efficient throughout, finding the open man to finish off the drives. His connection with Webster was especially impressive while scoring from nearly anywhere on the field:

The sophomore quarterback ended his day with 352 passing yards, 53 rushing yards and seven scores. Webster was nearly as impressive with nine catches for 188 yards and four touchdowns.

Meanwhile, the defense did its job while forcing numerous punts and four turnovers.

Travis Lazarczyk of the Morning Sentinel noted a major difference in the two sides:

Maine had a little bit of luck in the third quarter as an Eastern Washington mistake led to a safety. The underdogs showed some life after this during what became a 19-point third quarter.

This Andre Miller touchdown was easily the Black Bears' best play of the game:

Barriere kept applying pressure, though, helping Eastern Washington reach the 50-point mark for the sixth time this season.

With the way the quarterback was throwing the football, few teams in the country would have been able to stay with the Eagles on the scoreboard.

Maine was the No. 7 seed and showed how dangerous it could be with its upset win over No. 2 Weber State in the quarterfinals. However, its usually strong run defense was nowhere to be found as Eastern Washington ran for 216 yards on 5.8 per carry.

Chris Ferguson had 325 passing yards but also threw two interceptions while finishing just 28-of-56 passing. It was an outstanding season for the Black Bears, but they simply couldn't keep up in this game.

Meanwhile, there is one more game for the Eagles as they try to win their second football national championship after bringing home the trophy in 2010.