Sun Devils Win, Earn Aloha Bid

Ryan Kealy threw two touchdown passes before leaving because of a twisted right knee and backup John Leonard connected with Richard Williams on a 45-yard scoring pass play as Arizona State defeated rival Arizona, 42-27, Saturday and clinched a berth in the Aloha Bowl.

The Sun Devils, 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Pacific 10, will play Wake Forest (6-5) of the Atlantic Coast Conference in Honolulu on Christmas Day.

Arizona State also knocked the Wildcats (6-6, 3-5) out of bowl consideration.

“To end this with a win for the seniors and go to a bowl game, and then to knock [Arizona] out of bowl game, that’s the best feeling,” said tight end Todd Heap, who had seven catches for 170 yards and a touchdown.

Arizona State went ahead, 35-20, with 12:28 left when Leonard threw a desperation pass to the goal line. Williams outjumped Kelvin Hunter to make the touchdown catch.

“Leonard has a good, strong arm, and he just threw the ball up,” Williams said. “And the cornerback, he was lost. He didn’t know where he was, so I made a move around him, positioned myself like a basketball move and went up and got that ball.”

J.R. Redmond, who had 112 yards in 23 carries, scored for Arizona State on a 10-yard run with 1:33 remaining.

Trung Canidate had an 80-yard scoring run and Dennis Northcutt returned a punt 81 yards for the Wildcats.

Canidate had 158 yards rushing. He finished with 1,602 yards this season and 3,824 in his career--good enough to pass Gaston Greene of UCLA for fifth in Pac-10 career rushing.

Arizona State ended a two-game losing streak in the series and defeated Arizona for only the fifth time in 18 games.