Difference makers: Jayden de Laura, Max Borghi lead Washington State’s offense in Apple Cup rout

Jayden de Laura

Making his Apple Cup debut, the fiery sophomore from Hawaii looked poised from his clean pocket. De Laura, who didn’t toss his second incompletion until late in the third quarter, picked apart a touted Washington secondary that entered this game leading the Pac-12 in almost every pass-defense stat category and features a couple of high-round NFL draft prospects. De Laura kept the Huskies guessing, spreading the looks among six targets. He didn’t dial up a ton of downfield shots but excelled in the intermediate game, completing 27 of 32 passes for 245 yards. De Laura, known for his charisma and ability to instill his teammates with energy, shined in that regard.

Armani Marsh

The senior Spokane product, WSU’s starting nickel, was one in a handful of Cougar defenders to pester UW quarterback Sam Huard into a first-career start to forget. Marsh was on the receiving end of two interceptions. He hauled in a high pass from Huard early in the second quarter to set up a Cougars field goal, then helped seal the win, snagging a late pick – Huard’s fourth of the night – on a pass that was bobbled by a UW receiver and bounced into the air. Marsh had open field ahead and raced into the end zone to cap WSU’s dominant rivalry win. He also totaled a team-high five tackles and shared a stop in the backfield.

Max BorghiTwo years ago, in the week ahead of the previous edition of this rivalry game, Borghi predicted he’d score “a lot” in Seattle. It came later than he anticipated, but the Cougars’ star senior running back made good on that promise. Borghi tallied two touchdowns to move into a tie with Steve Broussard atop the program’s leaderboard for career scoring (41 TDs). He rumbled for 129 yards on 22 attempts, an average of 5.9 yards per try, in his Apple Cup finale.