Beavers fight through adversity and hold on for key win over Huskies

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Gazette-Times Reporter

A deep sense of relief ran through the Valley Football Center late Saturday night and into early Sunday morning.

The Oregon State football team pulled out an emotionally charged 29-23 Pacific-10 Conference victory over Washington in Reser Stadium.

The Beavers (6-4, 4-3) were in command much of the night, but nearly lost. They were forced to make an emergency defensive stand after a phantom fumble by tailback Yvenson Bernard on the Washington goal line.

“I’m really excited about the win,” coach Mike Riley said just past midnight Sunday. “This was a big win for our football team. There were a million things that went on in that game. However it came out, we won. I’m proud of that.”

If the Huskies (3-7, 1-6) had completed the comeback they wouldn’t have earned a victory. They would have been given one - and not by the Beavers - when the game got out control.

Four players, three from OSU’s side, were ejected and there was a string of questionable calls by the officials, which fueled the frustration from both teams.

A statement is expected from the conference office today about the game. Riley said Sunday night he expects it to be disciplinary action for those ejected.

“That game was crazy from start to finish,” defensive end Slade Norris said. “This team has relied on the defense all year long, and I don’t think there’s a better way to end it than with the defense out there making a stop.”

There were 17 penalties, 10 on the Beavers. The problem with them waw they came after the game went wild.

“I didn’t like our reaction to what was going on, and we’ll take care of that,” Riley said. “It has been addressed and will be addressed again. Those penalties could have cost us that game, and played a big part as to why it got that way.”

The game turned sour in the first half when the Huskies kept hitting OSU safety Al Afalava after the whistle. Then Bernard’s facemask was pulled off and he was punched in the face by Afoa Wilson.

No flags were thrown for those incidents.

“It was very emotional,” linebacker Derrick Doggett said. “A lot of people were playing hard, and playing wild. Things were happening. There were some cheap shots.”

The Huskies were mad at Afalava for knocking out their quarterback, Jake Locker, with a clean hit. His facemask hit Locker in the back of the head on a tackle.

Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said it was an illegal hit after the game. Riley said there was nothing wrong with it and there was no flag after reviewing the video.

Locker was taken to the hospital for head and neck tests, which were all negative. He returned to the sidelines before the end of the game.

Scuffles broke out in the third quarter, but the Beavers calmed down and overcame the questionable calls.

“Coach Riley had everyone meet and told us to focus on football and to hit them on the field before the whistle ends,” Norris said. “It was just a hard, physical game. Emotions run high and things happen. I don’t know why it happens, but the Huskies are a big rivalry in the Northwest.”

A sampling of the Twilight Zone calls had Washington backup quarterback Carl Bonnell score on a 1-yard run in the third quarter, but replays showed he was short of the goal line.

The strangest call was late in the fourth quarter when the Beavers drove to the Washington goal line and allegedly fumbled.

Bernard lunged to the goal line and put the ball in the end zone.

It was questionable if it was a touchdown or not, but the ground caused him to let go of the ball. That means he should at least been down on the 1-yard line.

The Huskies returned the loose ball to their 38-yard line and had the opportunity to win the game before turning the ball over on downs.

“We saw the call on the replay (board),” quarterback Lyle Moevao said. “His knee was down, the ball was down. You didn’t need anything else to see.”

There was a replay official who is supposed to review every play of the game and stop play if there is a call he thinks should be reviewed with instant replay. He didn’t deem that play something to look at further.

“I think that was a mistake,” Riley said. “If it was not ruled in our favor in the end, that’s one thing. The reason for it is to review that play. It was a game-changing, season-changing play.”

Coaches can stop the game once to ask for a review. Riley couldn’t at the time because he used his earlier.

“Your chances are not very good at getting it (overturned),” Riley said. “The guy upstairs is supposed to be reviewing it anyway. You are asking for a review of a play he already reviewed and didn’t think it was worth reviewing.”

Through all that, the bottom line is the Beavers got out of the debacle with a win, are bowl eligible and can enhance their postseason position in the last two games of the regular season against two more Northwest rivals.