PHILADELPHIA, Pa.- On a rainy night at historic Franklin Field, Eastern University Football posted a 21-9 homecoming win over the visiting Albright College Lions. Nassik Smith caught a pair of long touchdowns and Brett Nabb rushed for a touchdown and threw for two.

The Eagles (2-4, 2-3) practiced in beautiful weather all week, but like the last three Saturdays, it rained throughout. Despite struggling to establish the run, losing a pair of fumbles, and giving up a safety, Eastern never trailed in the game.

After neither team moved the ball on their opening possessions, the Eagles opened the scoring on a 61-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 5-yard run by Nabb. John Nolek converted the extra point. Nabb completed a 37-yard pass to Justin Nikolopoulos to spark the drive.

It looked like the Eagles would have a great chance to double the lead when Dru Beckford picked off an Albright pass and raced toward the end zone. An illegal block penalty nullified the great return, and the ball moved back to the Albright 40 yard line. The Eastern drive stalled and the two teams traded punts.

The Eastern defense made a strong stand after a fumble near the end of the first quarter, but the Eagles got pinned in deep and had to punt.

The Lions got their touchdown on a long drive midway through the second quarter. Albright converted a pair of fourth downs on the 70-yard drive. That drive was just one of two drives to net over 35 yards for the visitors.

The Eagles found their big play on the final drive of the first half. Nabb stood tall in the face of a blitz and found Smith on a crossing route. He ran into the space the blitzing safeties had vacated and went untouched into the end zone for a 44-yard score.

The Eastern lead grew to 21-7 on a their opening drive of the second half. Nabb found Smith over the top for a 42-yard score on a 2nd-and-9 play.

After a long punt pinned the Eagles deep, the Lions scored the final two points of the game when a shotgun snap slipped under Nabb and through the back of the end zone.

Led by Vaughn Highland with 10 total tackles, the Eastern defense recorded five sacks and 16 tackles for loss. Gashawn Moody, Salif NIkiema, and Perry Parker all finished with nine tackles. Albright had just 158  total yards. The defense came up with a big stop on downs on the possession after the safety. 

The Eagles lone big running play came on a broken play with the punt unit on in the third quarter. When protection broke down, John Westfield faked the kick and eluded the rusher before scampering 21 yards to the left sideline. The Eastern offense had only 44 yards rushing for the game.

Eastern will travel to King's College next Saturday. The Monarchs (5-1, 4-1) beat Lebanon Valley 35-21 today and are one of three MAC teams sitting one game behind Delaware Valley.