April 27 – PULLMAN – John Mateer had no idea what Ben Arbuckle had in mind.
The Washington State quarterback had practiced the trick with his offensive coordinator the day before, knowing it might come in handy at some point but having no idea when.
“It was a great way to start,” Mateer said.
It turns out that Arbuckle came up with the trick to open WSU’s Crimson and Gray spring game, and it went like this: Mateer, the Gray quarterback, took a shotgun blast and handed it to running back Djouvensky Schlenbaker, who threw it to the receiver. Josh Meredith, who shuffled back to Mateer, who threw downfield to tight end Billy Rivere, who took a 75-yard touchdown pass into the end zone on the first play from scrimmage.
In the end, the Crimson team rallied to win 22-21 on a Dean Janikoswki field goal, ending the Cougars’ month-long spring schedule. It was part of the Crimson’s 13-0 run to end the game, including a fourth-quarter touchdown by freshman running back Wayshawn Parker.
The tone was set from the beginning, through tricks to get things started. For the game, Mateer completed 11 of 24 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns, the other score going to receiver Josh Meredith on a throw pass in the second quarter. His competition for the starting QB job, Bryant transfer Zevi Eckhaus, completed 19 of 30 passes for 196 yards and two scores, throwing touchdowns to Parker and receiver Carlos Hernandez.
However, WSU did not strictly play first-team players. First-team players like Mateer, Meredith, receiver Kyle Williams, and offensive linemen Christian Hilborn and Esa Pole played for Gray. Others, like defensive backs Jackson Lataimua and Kapena Gushiken, linebacker Kyle Thornton and Hernandez played for the Crimson.
“I told the guys coming in that this was going to be a big day,” WSU coach Jake Dickert said. “I want to go back and watch the film. Obviously, the O-lines are mixed up. The receivers are mixed up. It’s hard to really get a flow, and I think that’s what you saw a little bit today on offense. Until we really get to the end, no we had a lot of flow, so today is a difficult assessment.
Difficult or not, the Cougs recorded some highlights in a flat environment, including a 42-yard touchdown run from Parker, an early enrollee from California.
On the touchdown pass, coming from Eckhaus, he had to improvise. First, he broke one tackle, avoided another, avoided another, and then dove into the end zone for a touchdown.
“All day I’ve been thinking, ‘I’ve got to score,’ in my mind,” Parker said, in preparation for his role as WSU’s starting running back next season. “At halftime, I still hadn’t scored a touchdown, so I went out, ran a little circle (route) and thought, ‘Yeah, this is it.’ “
Parker is one of three running backs vying to become the Cougars’ starting running back in the fall. The team lost one prospect, sophomore Leo Pulalasi, early in the game. He went down in the first quarter with a leg/foot injury, which was placed in a cleat before being removed, with his hands covering his face as he left the field.
Pulalasi will undergo surgery and be out 6-8 weeks, Dickert said after the game. If that holds up, Pulalasi should be ready for the start of fall camp, a positive development for one of the most promising young players on the WSU roster.
Two other players suffered injuries in the first quarter, edge rusher Michael Hughes and defensive lineman Zack Miller, the latter of whom was also ruled out. Dickert didn’t give as specific an update on the status of these two players.
“There’s always some cost-benefit to having these things,” Dickert said, “but I think these guys needed to (perform) in that type of environment.”
