For three quarters, it seemed as if the University of Washington football team was just stumbling around in the dark, bumping into things.
Then the power went out at Husky Stadium, after Kalen DeBoer’s guys had tied the score and 11:36 was left on the clock, and a funny thing happened.
Once this interruption in service was rectified and there was no need for Puget Sound Energy trucks to show up, the Huskies finally lit some candles, found their bearings and went on to a 24-21 victory over the 24th-ranked Oregon State Beavers.
When the lights went back on, the light went on for the home squad.
Peyton Henry’s 22-yard field goal with eight seconds left enabled the Huskies (7-2 overall, 4-2 Pac-12) to survive an extremely difficult evening beside Lake Washington.
It was fair turnabout for the 2021 game in Corvallis that was decided by Everett Hayes’ 24-yard field goal with 3:18 left to play and ended 27-24 for the Beavers.
“I was ready to go,” Henry said. “Their kicker came up to me and said, ‘I guess it was your turn this year.’ ”
The Henry field goal capped an extremely well-executed 18-play, 97-yard drive that began with 4:33 remaining and ended with time for only one Oregon State play.
With an ESPN-TV national audience left hanging as well, the stadium lights went off about 10:15 p.m. Fans lit up their cell phone lights. Oregon State headed for the locker room. UW players remained on the field and tried to stay loose. The delay lasted about 25 minutes.
The Huskies survived even after getting pushed around by OSU (6-3, 3-3) in the trenches much of the night on a windy but amazingly dry evening in Montlake.
Redshirt freshman Jack McCallister had issues for the first time this season, shanking his first punt for 18 yards and dropping the snap on the second and having the ball blocked for an 8-yard loss.
Yet the Huskies got off easy for all their early ineptitude. OSU had every chance to put more points on the board, take firm control of this one and couldn’t do it.
The Beavers moved from their 30 to the UW 6 just as easily as before only to turn the ball over on downs. On fourth-and-1, cornerback Mishael Powell took out the legs of powerful short-yardage back Jack Colletto for no gain.
On the play, Husky edge rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui collided with someone so hard in the pile-up he was left prone on the ground and had to be helped from the field. He was able to play again.
Halting Martinez’s momentum
Perhaps the primary challenge for UW’s defense Friday surrounded stopping freshman running back Damien Martinez (6-0, 216) — who entered the game with 517 rushing yards, 6.5 yards per carry and five touchdowns … including 289 rushing yards, 7.6 yards per rush and three scores in his last two games.
“The biggest thing is, he knows how to get north and south,” said UW co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach William Inge. “That’s always the challenge that you have when you’re on defense and you have a running back that will get you going in a direction and put his foot in the ground and get north and south. Because when his shoulders get going north and south he’s always falling forward for yards.
“That’s a really good trait that I’ve got a lot of respect for. What we have to do is make sure we have our shoulders under our pads so when we make contact, we can stop it right on contact.”
THE FINAL TALLY
Straight Up: Washington- 3, Oregon State- 0
Against The Spread (UW -4.5): Washington- 2, Oregon State- 1
Average Score: Washington- 31.0, Oregon State- 26.7
OVERVIEW
OnMyWay Is The #1 Distracted Driving Mobile App In The Nation!
OnMyWay, based in Charleston, SC, The Only Mobile App That Pays its Users Not to Text and Drive.
The #1 cause of death among young adults ages 16-27 is Car Accidents, with the majority related to Distracted Driving.
OnMyWay’s mission is to reverse this epidemic through positive rewards. Users get paid for every mile they do not text and drive and can refer their friends to get compensated for them as well.
The money earned can then be used for Cash Cards, Gift Cards, Travel Deals and Much, Much More….
The company also makes it a point to let users know that OnMyWay does NOT sell users data and only tracks them for purposes of providing a better experience while using the app.
The OnMyWay app is free to download and is currently available on both the App Store for iPhones and Google Play for Android @ OnMyWay; Drive Safe, Get Paid.
Download App Now – https://r.onmyway.com
Sponsors and advertisers can contact the company directly through their website @ www.onmyway.com