PULLMAN, Wash. – Redshirt-senior Dean Janikowski’s 26-yard field goal as time expired lifted the Crimson team to a 22-21 victory over Gray during Washington State Football’s annual Crimson & Gray Game Saturday afternoon at Gesa Field.
Janikowski’s field goal capped a nine-play, 46-yard drive that took the final 5-minutes, 6-seconds for the victory. Crimson’s final drive was highlighted by a 20-yard rush by Dylan Paine on fourth-and-two, a 10-yard pass from Zavi Eckhaus to Carlos Harnandez, and a 13-yard Paine rush putting Crimson first and goal at the seven.
The Crimson squad, whose honorary head coach was Cougar great Gardner Minshew II, scored the game’s final nine points in the fourth quarter to account for the only scoring of the second half. After trailing 21-13 at halftime, freshman running back Wayshawn Parker took a short pass from Eckhaus on the right flat, then accelerated up field before traversing the field to the left pylon for a 42-yard touchdown.
Early on it was the Gray team, coached by Cougar legends Jack Thompson, Rueben Mayes and Anthony Gordon, that held the upper hand offensively. On the game’s first play, Gray pulled off a little razzle dazzle as quarterback John Mateer handed off to Djouvensky Schlenbaker, who pitched to Josh Meredith on a reverse before sending the ball back to Mateer, who found tight end Billy Riviere III down the right side. Riviere caught the ball at the Crimson 45 then rambled to the end zone for the opening score.
After a Janikowski field goal put Crimson on the board, Schlenbaker bullied his way in from a yard out to cap a five-play, 59-yard drive. Schlenbaker opened the drive with a 53-yard rush up the middle for a first-and-goal situation.
The Crimson squad responded as Eckhaus found Hernandez for a 31-yard score, cutting the lead to 14-10, but Gray answered within two minutes as Mateer connected with Merdith on a 41-yard strike, extending the lead to 21-10. With 28-seconds left in the half, Eckhaus engineered a five-play31-yard drive as Janikowski connected for a 46-yard field goal as the half ended, cutting Gray’s lead to 21-13.
Eckhaus finished his day completing 19-of-30 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns, while Mateer was 11-of-24 for 194 yards and two scores. Hernandez finished with five receptions for 65 yards and a TD while Meredith had three catches for 49…
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