Football squad overcomes four turnovers in win.

September 12, 1998

BOISE, Idaho - The Cougars came from behind and overcame four turnovers to beat the Broncos 33-21 and move to 2-0 on the season in front of a hostile crowd of 26,189 strong at Bronco stadium.

WSU's offense got off to a rocky start with a fumble on the second play from scrimmage at their own 21 yard line. Three plays later, Bart Hendricks found Brad Arbon for the touchdown and the early 7-0 advantage. The Cougar offense would respond only half-heartedly, twice failing to find the endzone despite field position inside the Bronco 20 yard line. On both occasions, Rian Lindell kicked 32-yard field goals, bringing the Cougars to a 7-6 halftime deficit.

The second half began familiarly horrific for WSU. After forcing the Broncos to punt, Lamont Thompson muffed the reception and coughed the ball up at the WSU eight yard line. Two plays later Eron Hurley punched into the endzone and Boise State increased its lead to 14-6 with 7:44 to play in the third quarter. Dee Moronkola wasted no time atoning for the special teams mishap, taking the following kickoff 88 yards for a score. Lindell's point-after brought the Cougs back within one, 14-13.

Then the WSU defense caught fire dropping Hendricks for a seven yard loss and a fumble, recovered by Gary Holmes at the BSU 19. But WSU's offense continued to sputter and only succeeded in handing Lindell his third field goal of the night, a 38 yarder, to take the lead 16-14 with 5:40 to play in the third quarter. The Broncos responded with a 69-yard drive that was halted when Thompson picked off Hendricks in the endzone.

Having successfully dodged a Bronco bullet, the Cougars entered the fourth quarter with a two-point lead. BSU proved to be its own worst enemy as Shaunard Harts fumbled the ball away near midfield to WSU's Earl Riley who scampered all the way to the BSU 10. Once again, the endzone proved only to be a rumor for the Cougars' red zone offense and Lindell punched in his fourth field goal of the day from 24 yards to increase the Cougar lea With the defense still proving strong, WSU's offense managed its first and only red zone touchdown of the game on an 18-yard Steve Birnbaum to Leaford Hackett connection with 9:43 to play, increasing the WSU lead to 13 points, 27-14.

The Broncos refused to quit however and a Nian Taylor fumble produced another BSU touchdown, cutting the Cougar lead to 27-21 with 5:43 left to play. With just over four minutes remaining, the Broncos regained possession at their own 10 yard line needing only a touchdown to tie. Completing nine-of-nine passes Hendricks brought the Broncos into Cougar territory with less than two minutes to play. But Hendricks 11th pass attempt fell short as Chris Martin nabbed his second interception of the game and single-handedly thwarted the Broncos' comeback hopes.

DeJuan Gilmore added insult to injury in WSU's following play from scrimmage, busting loose for a 79-yard touchdown run. A two-point conversion attempt failed, but WSU walked away with the victory.

WASHINGTON STATE	0	6	10	17	33
BOISE STATE		7	0	7	7	21


TEAM	QTR	TIME	SCORING PLAY (Yards/Plays/Drive Time/How Gained Possession)
BSU	1	13:33	Arbon 2 pass from Hendricks (Belcastro kick) (19/3/1:10fumble)
WSU	2	12:48	Lindell 32 kick (43/10/3:22/punt)
WSU	2	6:39	Lindell 32 kick (3/4/1:02/fumble)
BSU	3	7:44	Hurley 3 rush (Belcastro kick) (8/2/0:15/punt)
WSU	3	7:29	Moronkola 88 kick return (Lindell kick)
WSU	3	5:40	Lindell 38 kick (-2/4/0:46/fumble)
WSU	4	12:18	Lindell 24 kick (3/4/1:40/fumble)
WSU	4	9:43	Hackett 18 pass from Birnbaum (Jefferson pass) (49/5/1:25/punt)
BSU	4	5:43	Dees 29 fumble return (Belcastro kick)
WSU	4	1:43	Gilmore 79 rush (Birnbaum pass failed) (79/1/0:12/interception)


TOTAL OFFENSE  -  WSU .62/279/4.5  BSU 85/307/3.6.
RUSHING  -  WSU 27/140/35/105/1/79:  Gilmore 10/123, Mencke 1/9, Brown 9/0, Hackett 1/-5, Birnbaum 6/-22.  BSU 41/148/28/120/1/15:  Hurley 25/89, Harts 7/14, Wilson 1/13, Harsin 1/5, Nelson 1/3, Hendricks 6/-4.
PASSING  -  WSU 35/18/0/174/1/34:  Birnbaum 34/18/0/174/1/34, Mencke 1/0/0/0/0/0.  BSU 44/22/3/187/1/32:  Hendricks 42/22/3/187/1/32, Harsin 2/0/0/0/0/0.
RECEIVING  -  WSU: Hackett 9/94, Taylor 5/39, Gilmore 2/25, Roquemore 1/14, White 1/2.  BSU: Smith 9/73, Brekke 4/27, Hurley 3/16, Nelson 2/40, Arbon 2/14, Stachelski 1/6, Putzier 1/11.
INTERCEPTIONS  -  WSU: Martin 2/3, Thompson 1/18.  BSU: none.
PUNTING  -  WSU: Anderson 5/206/41.2/45.  BSU: Davis 4/137/34.3/40, Gonazalez 2/65/32.5/37.
PUNT RETURNS  -  WSU: Taylor 1/17, Thompson 1/18.  BSU: Fisher 1/0.
KICKOFF RETURNS  -  WSU: Moronkola 1/88, Gilmore 1.19, Taylor 2/15.  BSU: Harts 3/42, Nelson 1/17.
SCORING  -  WSU: Lindell 13, Moronkola 6, Hackett 6, Gilmore 6, Jefferson 2,.  BSU: Arbon 6, Hurley 6, Dees 6, Belcastro 3.
FIRST DOWNS  -  WSU: 14.  BSU: 21.
FUMBLES/LOST  -  WSU: 5/4.  BSU: 4/3.
PENALTIES/YARDS  -  WSU: 7/63.  BSU: 4/27.
POSSESSION TIME  -  WSU: 25:10.  BSU: 34:50.
THIRD-DOWN CONVERSIONS  -  WSU: 4/15.  BSU: 7/21.
ATTENDANCE  -  26,189.
WSU TACKLERS (T-P-A)  --  Martin 14/11/3, Price 12/9/3, Gleason 10/7/3, Moronkola 9/8/1, Riley 9/6/3, Philley 6/3/3, Thompson 6/5/1, Nance 4/2/2, Matson 2/2/0, Holmes 2/2/0, Ratcliff 2/1/1, Emmerson 2/1/1, Meier 2/1/1, Marong 1/0/1, Newman 1/0/1, Lindell 1/1/0.
WSU SACKS  --  Riley 2/-17, Marong 1/-5, Price/Ratcliff 1/-1
WSU TFL  -  Riley 4/-22, Marong 1/-5, Gleason 1/-4, Moronkola 1/-4, Price 1/-1, Matson 1/-1, Holmes 1/-1, Ratcliff 1/-1.

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