UW Football
All-purpose pounding: Frederick leads Huskies past Beavers

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter

	DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES Washington's Charles Frederick makes a move to fake out Oregon State's Lawrence Turner last night.
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CORVALLIS, Ore. — All the anger the Washington Huskies had built up during an offseason of turmoil and a half-season of disappointment seemed to come pouring out here last night.

The unsuspecting victims were the Oregon State Beavers, whose fans were already looking forward to a first-place showdown at Washington State next week.

The Huskies — coming off one of their most disheartening losses in years last week against Nevada — chased, battered and finally subdued the Beavers to pick up one of their most emotional victories in years, a 38-17 decision in front of a stunned crowd of 37,034 at Reser Stadium.

"Enough was enough, man," said Washington tackle Khalif Barnes. "We had just embarrassed ourselves the last two weeks."

The Huskies got the win thanks to one of their most dominating defensive performances in years — holding the Pac-10's leading offense to just 238 yards through three quarters — while getting a record performance from receiver Charles Frederick to continue their hex on the Beavers. Washington has won 25 of the last 27 meetings with Oregon State and 15 of the last 16.

Frederick, who scored on an 86-yard punt return and an 87-yard pass reception, broke Hugh McElhenny's 53-year-old school record for all-purpose yards. McElhenny had 362 against Washington State in 1950.

The win put the Huskies back in contention for the Pac-10 title at 2-1, improved their overall record to 4-3 and put a swift halt to talk that they were inevitably headed toward their first losing season since 1976.

"Husky football is not dead," yelled quarterback Cody Pickett as he walked off the field. "I don't know who told you that, but Husky football is not dead. It's not dead."

The victory, surely the biggest in the brief reign of coach Keith Gilbertson, came at a heavy price as running back Rich Alexis left in the second quarter with a bruised quadriceps. Several others — including receiver Reggie Williams and Pickett — limped off the field at one point or another, symbolic of the intensity of the game.

"They were talking the whole game, choking people, doing all kinds of things you can't imagine trying to get us to retaliate," Barnes said.

But unlike in previous games this season, the Huskies kept their composure and rode it to a win.

A week ago, UW played a game so bad that Husky Stadium was barely half full when the contest ended, with many of those remaining booing.

"We were as low as you can get," said UW coach Keith Gilbertson said. "Unless you are a coach or player, you don't understand how low."

But the Huskies felt things turning during a spirited week of practices. During the week, Gilbertson made up shirts that all the players wore for the trip saying "60 for 60," meaning 60 players for 60 minutes.

"That was our motto, that we were going to leave it all on the field," Barnes said.

The defense was keyed by a shuffled defensive front — tackle Terry Johnson moved to end and starting freshman Donny Mateaki started at tackle. The move was designed to take Steven Jackson, Oregon State's star running back, out of the game and make erratic Beavers quarterback Derek Anderson beat them. Jackson, who entered the game as the second-leading rusher in the nation, was held to 38 yards on 15 carries in the first half, including one rush of 19, meaning he had 19 yards on his other 14 carries. He finished with 49 yards on 22 carries.

"We wanted to stop him and get their young quarterback to throw us the ball," said UW cornerback Derrick Johnson, who had one of UW's three interceptions.

Washington took the lead for good less than seven minutes in on an 86-yard punt return by Frederick, UW's first return for a score in two years.

The return was a sign of things to come for Frederick, who turned in the best game of his three-year UW career. Frederick had nine catches for 216 yards, the third most in school history.

The Huskies took a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter when they drove 72 yards in 12 plays — keyed by Frederick receptions of 17 and 18 yards — capped by a 2-yard run by Kenny James, the first of his career.

Oregon State came right back with an 80-yard drive to make it 14-7. The Beavers then got the ball right back when linebacker Richard Seigler picked off a Pickett pass and returned it to the UW 14. Pickett made a touchdown-saving tackle on the play, which proved crucial when the Beavers were held to a field goal after a holding call nullified an apparent Jackson touchdown run.

Washington took a 14-10 lead into the locker room at halftime, and unlike the UCLA game, came out just as hot to start the third quarter.

After stopping Oregon State three-and-out to start the second half, UW drove 86 yards to go ahead 21-10. The touchdown came on a third-and-six play when Pickett hit Frederick on a slant over the middle and Frederick broke through the tackle of Lawrence Turner and into the end zone.

The Huskies then made the kind of play that has eluded them much of the year. Linebacker Marquis Cooper picked off an Anderson pass at the 23 and returned it to the 3. After an Oregon State penalty moved the ball to the 1, Pickett hit tight end Ben Bandel to make it 28-10.

Frederick then put it away with an 87-yard catch and run with 7:32 left.

"We just went out and had fun," Frederick said. "Just like it was a game in your backyard."

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