Almost An Academy Award Huskies Rally To Win As Army Runs Out Of Time On 1-Yard Line

No. 22 Washington didn’t think it could lose to Army. The Cadets almost proved the Huskies wrong in front of a record number of witnesses.

“We took this game way too lightly,” Damon Huard said after throwing a touchdown pass and scoring on a keeper in the fourth quarter in a 21-13 victory Saturday. “We were 26-point favorites and we barely squeaked by. It’s pretty obvious we need to improve a lot.”

Thanks to Huard’s fourth-quarter performance, the Pac-10 Huskies (2-1) were able to overcome the Cadets’ ball-controlling wishbone.

The game ended with the Cadets (1-2), out of timeouts, with fourth down on the Washington 1-yard line as the clock ran out. Army had a 36:46-23:14 advantage in possession time.

“It’s a great feeling of achievement to come from behind and then have a big goal-line stand like that,” Huard said.

The 49-yard Huard-to-Andre DeSaussure scoring pass 2 minutes into the final quarter and Huard’s 2-yard touchdown run allowed the Huskies to win despite a career day by Army fullback John Conroy, who rushed 24 times for 166 yards. His previous best was 64 in last weekend’s loss to Duke.

“Anybody could have run through those holes,” Conroy said. “I have a busted-up ankle and I still made it.”

A crowd of 76,125 in Husky Stadium watched Army take a 10-0 lead 4:25 into the second half on Jeff Brizic’s 1-yard run. The Cadets went ahead 13-7 on a 21-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter.

But the upset didn’t happen for the Cadets, in their second visit to Seattle in eight seasons, principally because of Huard.

Huard lost two fumbles and threw an interception in the first three quarters, but he was a different quarterback in the fourth quarter. He was 6 for 7 for 119 yards and finished 12 for 19 for 197 yards.”Damon needs to be mentally and emotionally ready to take charge right away,” Washington coach Jim Lambright said.

After another Army field goal, Huard moved the Huskies 90 yards in seven plays for Washington’s first lead of the game at 14-13. He found DeSaussure, a redshirt freshman, behind Abdullah Muhammad at the 3 for DeSaussure’s first career touchdown and longest reception ever.

Leon Neal’s 17-yard punt return gave Washington the ball at the Army 48 with 9:13 to go and Huard completed a 24-yard pass to Dave Janoski on the second play of the Huskies’ final touchdown drive. The Huskies went 48 yards in seven plays for their 21-13 lead with 5:42 left.

Army wasn’t finished, though.

The Cadets went from their 27 to the Washington 1 in a dozen plays - despite being called for delay of game when they tried to call a timeout when they didn’t have any left. Washington kept the march alive when Mike Ewaliko was called for roughing quarterback Ronnie McAda after an incomplete pass on fourth-and-goal at the Huskies 6. That gave the Cadets three more cracks at the goal line.

On their last play, Steve Carpenter was stopped by Lawyer Milloy for no gain on third-and-1.

The Cadets said the crowd noise bothered them at the finish.

“We kept on nagging the referee (Jim Sprenger) to calm things down,” Conroy said. “He kept on saying he could hear the quarterback from 7 yards back. I was 5 yards back and I couldn’t hear him.”

Army coach Bob Sutton was disappointed with another close loss. The Cadets lost to Duke 23-21 on a field goal with 4 seconds left.

“We had confidence going in here,” Sutton said. “We believed we were going to beat Washington, period.”

Washington 21, Army 13

Army 3 0 7 3 - 13

Washington 0 0 7 14 - 21

Army-FG Parker 40

Army-Brizic 1 run (Parker kick)

Wash-Neal 7 run (Wales kick)

Army-FG Parker 21

Wash-DeSaussure 49 pass from Huard (Wales kick)

Wash-Huard 2 run (Wales kick)

A-76,125.

Army Wash First downs 18 16 Rushes-yards 61-282 33-112 Passing 66 245 Return Yards 12 58 Comp-Att-Int 7-9-0 14-21-1 Punts 6-35 4-27 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-2 Penalties-Yards 6-47 5-40 Time of Possession 36:46 23:14

INDIVIDUAL STATS RUSHINGArmy, Conroy 24-166, McAda 13-39, Carpenter 12-27, Thomas 2-15, Brizic 2-13, Hodge 4-12, Perry 4-10. Washington, Neal 15-69, Reed 7-40, Fortney 3-3, Shehee 1-2, Huard 7-(minus 2).

PASSINGArmy, McAda 7-9-0-66. Washington, Huard 12-19-1-197, Fortney 2-2-0-48.

RECEIVINGArmy, Leshinski 3-16, Conroy 2-23, Hodge 1-15, Thomas 1-12. Washington, Janoski 6-86, DeSaussure 3-99, Coleman 2-38, Reed 1-10, Pathon 1-8, Neal 1-4.