Oregon State Stuns Washington, 21-20, With a Blocked Punt

Andre Todd blocked a Thane Cleland punt and Lavance Northington fell on the ball in the end zone with 1:46 to go as Oregon State, a 37-point underdog, beat the Washington Huskies, 21-20, in a Pacific 10 game Saturday.

The Beavers had been shut out by USC and Washington State by a total score of 97-0 in their previous two games.

Oregon State, under first-year Coach Dave Kragthorpe, ended a 10-year Washington domination.

The Beavers held a 14-10 halftime lead, but the Huskies came back on Tony Covington’s 14-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and Jeff Jaeger’s 43-yard field goal in the fourth quarter for a 20-14 lead.

The Huskies were lined up for a Cleland punt on a fourth-and-nine situation on their own 30. Todd burst through untouched to block the punt, and the ball bounced straight back into the Huskies’ end zone.

Northington, a junior cornerback from San Jose, pounced on the ball in the Huskies’ end zone to tie the score at 20-20.

Jim Nielsen then kicked the game-winning extra point.

The loss broke a four-game Washington winning streak and cost the Huskies the lead in the Pac-10 race as they fell to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in league play.

Oregon State (3-4, 2-2) snapped a four-game losing streak.

Washington’s final comeback effort failed when quarterback Hugh Millen was run out of bounds for no gain on fourth-and-one at the 50-yard line with 1:15 left.

Rich Gonzales, a freshman from Diamond Bar High School, completed 26 of 43 passes for 298 yards and a touchdown to lead the Beavers. Gonzales also ran for a second-quarter touchdown.

For Washington, Millen was 20 of 31 for 191 yards, but was intercepted four times.

Jaeger, who had two field goals, became Washington’s second leading career scorer with 238 points. He moved ahead of former running back Hugh McElhenny and trails former kicker Chuck Nelson by 33 points.

Trailing 20-14, the Beavers marched from their own 19 to the Washington 11 with 3:22 to play. But Washington cornerback Demouy Williams knocked down a pass from Gonzales to flanker Dave Montagne in the end zone on fourth down to end the drive.

Washington then moved to its 30, from where Cleland attempted his ill-fated punt.

Jaeger opened the scoring with a 28-yard field goal in the first quarter, but the Beavers came back to take a 7-3 lead later in the period on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Gonzales to fullback Darvin Malone.

Tailback Vince Weathersby’s two-yard run in the second quarter gave the Huskies a 10-7 advantage. Oregon State then rolled back to take the lead at halftime on a 20-yard touchdown run by Gonzales.

Oregon State played without flanker Reggie Bynum, the second-leading receiver in the conference, who was sidelined by an ankle injury last week. Montagne, filling in for Bynum, caught six passes for 88 yards.