After Craig Chambers fumbled at the 1-yard-line Saturday and the Huskies started lamenting an opportunity lost, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis began thinking of a promise made.

Weis revealed yesterday during his regular day-after news conference that he had met with a 10-year-old Notre Dame fan on Wednesday who was suffering from inoperable brain cancer, and that the boy had asked him to pass on the first play against UW.

The boy, Montana Mazurkiewicz of Mishawaka, Ind., died Friday, something Weis learned after the Irish arrived in Seattle.

Weis didn't hesitate to follow through on Montana's request, even though the Irish started its first possession of the game at its 1-yard-line following the UW turnover.

The play, a pass from quarterback Brady Quinn to tight end Anthony Fasano, turned into a 13-yard gain in a game Notre Dame won 36-17.

"I sat there with the kid and talked with him about Notre Dame football, how he just wanted to make it through this week so he could watch that game," Weis said of his Wednesday meeting. "He knew he was not going to last very much longer."

Weis said Mazurkiewicz initially asked him what had gone wrong the previous week against Michigan State. "His mom said it was the first time he had really smiled in about three months," he said.

As the conversation progressed, Weis said he asked Mazurkiewicz what he wanted Notre Dame to do on its first play against the Huskies.

"I said, 'run or pass,' " Weis said. "Like any 10-year-old kid, he said pass." Specifically, pass right.

When Notre Dame's first possession started at its 1-yard-line following the Chambers fumble, Weis said he initially thought, "Oh, I have a problem here."

Quinn responded by throwing a pass to the right to Fasano, who leaped over UW cornerback Josh Okoebor before being tackled at the 14.

"It was almost as if Montana was willing him to take it to the house," Weis said.

Weis, who has a 10-year-old daughter who suffers from global developmental delays, said he met with Montana after being asked by school officials.

Montana, who was featured in several local news stories over the summer when he became an honorary member of the United States Army, has a brother named Rockne, which Weis said indicated the family's passion for Notre Dame.

His mother, Cathy, told The Associated Press that Weis helped the boy — who had become paralyzed from the waist down the day before — complete a pass to his mother from his bed during the visit.

Cathy Mazurkiewicz said she watched the game and "closed my eyes" as the play unfolded. "I thought, 'There's no way he's going to be able to make that pass. Not from where they're at. He's going to get sacked and Washington's going to get two points."

Mazurkiewicz called the pass "an amazing play. Montana would have been very pleased. I was very pleased. I was just so overwhelmed. I couldn't watch much more."

Weis said when he told the team about Montana, he didn't do it strictly as a motivational ploy, though the family had asked Weis that the team play in his memory against the Huskies.

"I'm not big on 'Win One for the Gipper' type of deals," said Weis, now the coach at the school that made that phrase famous.

"But I wanted to let them know how important football is at Notre Dame, how they represent a lot of people they don't even realize they are representing."

Weis said the team signed a game ball for the family afterward and he planned to present it yesterday.

"To watch a 10-year-old only get a smile on his face because of his passion and love for Notre Dame football, it was a good moral for our players," Weis said. "It brings you back down to Earth to realize how important it is to wear that jersey."

NOTES

• Weis said if he had to do it over again, he'd probably kick field goals on two fourth downs in the third quarter in which Notre Dame went for it and came up short. Weis said he was hesitant to kick going into that end of the field, toward the lake, where the wind can be a factor. "In hindsight, I would have taken both of those backs," he said.

• Weis said one of the keys to the game was that we "basically shut down their running game and turned it into a one-dimensional game." UW threw for 408 yards but rushed for just 41. That's UW's lowest rushing total since being held to 34 at Cal late in the 2003 season.

• Weis, however, said he was concerned that Notre Dame gave up so many big plays to the Huskies, saying he counted 18 UW plays that accounted for 419 yards — 23 yards per play. He said five UW plays accounted for 227 yards, or 45 yards a play.

• The No. 24 who played on special teams for UW was not J.R. Hasty but walk-on John Gardenhire. The Huskies are still hopeful of redshirting Hasty.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com