True freshmen lead UA to victory
True freshmen came up big for Arizona on Saturday as the Wildcats defeated Washington State at home by a score of 48-20.
Nicolas Grigsby made the most of his 30 carries, gaining 186 yards on the ground on top of catching six balls for 76 yards and a touchdown. Fellow freshman, tight end Rob Gronkowski, was a key to the victory as well with four receptions for 115 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
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Grigsby got the show on the road for the UA on the first drive of the night and set the tone for the game, racking up 54 rushing yards in that drive that led to a 22-yard Jason Bondzio field goal.
Arizona's defense didn't quite get out to the same start that the offense did, yielding a touchdown to the Cougars on their first drive as Alex Brink connected with receiver Charles Dillon for a 16-yard touchdown.
On the next drive, UA offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes continued to run the ball effectively, which in turn opened up the pass as Willie Tuitama found Grigsby 22 yards downfield for a touchdown.
Into the second quarter, Devin Ross' first career interception set the stage for yet another Tuitama touchdown pass, this time for 18 yards to Gronkowski down the seam.
The Wildcats even scored on their next possession as Bondzio connected on a 34-yard field goal to push the score to 20-7.
Washington State got the ball back with just under three minutes to play in the half and sliced through the Arizona defense with Jed Collins catching a touchdown pass with :37 left in the half.
Despite the halftime lead, the UA played better in the second half of the game, even though Brink and the Cougars struck first out of the gate to tie the score at 20-20.
From that point on, it was all Arizona as Tuitama went on to score two more touchdowns in the third quarter: one on the ground and one through the air to Mike Thomas 27 yards downfield.
The scoring binge continued for the Wildcats into the fourth quarter as Tuitama threw the final two of his five total touchdown passes in the fourth. One went for 57 yards to Gronkowski yet again and the other for 20 yards to Thomas.
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