Huskies Continue Attack On The Wac Huard-Pathon Combination Leads Washington To 36-3 Win Over Aztecs

Brock Huard and Jerome Pathon are enjoying life in the Western Athletic Conference.

Huard tied a career high with four touchdown passes as No. 3 Washington of the Pac-10 continued to feast on WAC opponents, beating San Diego State 36-3 on Saturday.

Washington (2-0) beat BYU 42-20 last weekend and now is 23-4-1 against WAC opponents.

Huard’s favorite target was Pathon, who caught eight passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns. Against BYU he caught seven for 163 yards.

“With about 400 yards in two games, that shows we put a lot of work in this summer,” Huard said of his success with Pathon.

With the Aztecs (1-1) focusing on stopping Washington’s running game, Huard had time to throw.

“If a defense is going to load up to stop the run, we can make the big play downfield,” said Huard, a sophomore who completed 16 of 26 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns.

“When I see the other team trying to tee off on the run, my eyes get a little bigger,” Pathon said.

Washington, perhaps looking ahead to next Saturday’s home game against No. 6 Nebraska, was slow to get untracked in a sloppy, penalty-filled game.

The Aztecs converted only one of 13 thirddown attempts and their rushing game was shut down. The Huskies limited Kevin McKechnie, the nation’s top-rated quarterback, to 203 yards passing.

“We couldn’t run the ball,” McKechnie said. “You have to do both to be successful.”

Huard’s 47-yard pass to Fred Coleman set up the Huskies’ first touchdown early in the first quarter. Four plays later, Pathon caught a 12-yard scoring pass from Huard.

San Diego State marched downfield on its next series, thanks to two receptions by Az-Zahir Hakim that covered 56 yards. But Hakim, after catching a short pass and eluding three tacklers, was stripped of the ball on the 1 by Tony Parrish to end the scoring threat.

San Diego State coach Ted Tollner called that a critical turnover.

“It would have allowed us to maintain some semblance of balance” if the Aztecs had scored, Tollner said.

Early in the second quarter, Washington reached the Aztecs 3. But three rushes by Rashaan Shehee failed to produce a touchdown and the Huskies settled for Randy Jones’ 18-yard field goal.

Midway through the second, Joe Jarzynka returned a punt 50 yards, with punter Don Copeland tackling him to prevent a touchdown. But Washington couldn’t move the ball and Jones missed a 46-yard field goal.

Jerry Jensen intercepted McKechnie’s pass on the next series at the San Diego State 44. Huard completed three straight passes, the last a 9-yard touchdown toss to Coleman with 1:42 left in the half for a 17-0 Washington lead.

The Aztecs mounted a late drive that ended with Nate Tandberg’s 31-yard field goal with 7 seconds left in the half.

Cameron Chance picked up Shehee’s fumble to give the Aztecs the ball on Washington’s 27 early in the third quarter. But three consecutive penalties pushed the ball back to the San Diego State 49 and killed the drive.

Huard hit the wide-open Pathon with a 53-yard touchdown pass on the next series to lift Washington to a 24-3 lead.

McKechnie’s pass was intercepted by Todd Johnson late in the third to give Washington the ball at San Diego State’s 36. Jones’ 29-yard field goal made it 27-3 with 3:19 left in the third.

Huard added a 12-yard pass to Reggie Davis to finish the scoring.

MEMO: Changed in the Idaho and Spokane editions.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Washington 36, San Diego St. 3 San Diego St. 0 3 0 0 - 3 Washington 7 10 10 9 - 36 WashPathon 12 pass from Huard (Jones kick) 10:04 WashFG Jones 18, 12:30 WashColeman 9 pass from Huard (Jones kick) 1:42 SDSUFG Tandberg 31, 0:07. WashPathon 53 pass from Huard (Jones kick) 8:21 WashFG Jones 29, 3:19 WashSafety, Graham downed in end zone, 7:37. Wash-R.Davis 12 pass from Huard (Jones kick) 5:05 A-71,081.

SDS WASH First downs 10 20 Rushes-yards 26-(-7) 34-153 Passing 203 314 Comp-Att-Int 16-28-2 17-27-0 Return Yards 128 148 Punts-Avg. 8-38 4-42 Fumbles-Lost 4-1 3-3 Penalties-Yards 13-124 6-41 Time of Possession 28:50 31:10 RUSHING-SDSU, Evans 6-17, Watson 4-2, Graham 4-1, J.Lewis 5-(minus 3), M. Smith 3-(minus 4), McKechnie 4-(minus 20). Washington, Shaw 14-79, Shehee 16-72, J. Harris 2-4, Huard 2-(minus 2). PASSING-SDSU, McKechnie 16-28-2-203. Washington, Huard 16-26-0-313, Tuiasosapo 1-1-0-1. RECEIVING-SDSU, Hakim 7-108, T. Johnson 2-54, J. Lewis 2-15, Flick 2-11, Evans 2-3, Reyes 1-12. Washington, Pathon 8-182, Coleman 3-70, Cleeland 1-28, DeSaussure 1-17, R. Davis 1-12, Jarzynka 1-4, Riddick 1-1, Shehee 1-0.