Gronkowski’s hat trick sparks Wildcat win

TUCSON—Rob Gronkowski decided to channel his inner Cris Carter last night.

Carter, a Hall-of-Fame wide receiver for the Eagles, Vikings and Dolphins, was once famously criticized by former Philadelphia coach Buddy Ryan, who said “All Cris Carter does is catch touchdown passes.”

Three of Gronkowski’s five receptions went for touchdowns as the Arizona Wildcats throttled the Washington Huskies 48-14 at Arizona Stadium.

“This was one of Rob’s best games,” said offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes. “He’s such a big, versatile target. We need to keep coming up with ways to get him the football.”

The blowout win puts the Wildcats (4-1, 2-0 Pac-10) in an unfamiliar spot tied for the Pac-10 lead with California as the only two teams undefeated in conference play.

He nearly had four touchdowns, but Willie Tuitama’s pass was just inches out of his grasp on the Wildcats’ opening drive. Arizona settled for a field goal.

The three touchdown receptions tied a school record. Gronkowski was the third Wildcat receiver to complete the touchdown hat-trick. The last person to accomplish that feat was Mike Thomas, against these same Huskies last season.

Gronkowski led the Wildcats with 109 receiving yards. He scored the game’s first touchdown midway through the first quarter on a slick middle screen a new wrinkle in the Wildcats’ playbook. Arizona caught Washington in a full blitz and Gronkowski sprinted away from Washington’s defensive backs.

“We put that play in a couple weeks ago,” head coach Mike Stoops said. “Robbie really balances our offense and gives us a lot of options.”

Gronkowski missed the first three games of his sophomore campaign due to strep throat and other mono-like symptoms. He lost roughly 15 pounds and didn’t have the energy to step into the weight room until midway through September.

He’s shown no ill-effects since returning to the Arizona line-up full time in his team’s 31-10 win at UCLA on Sept. 20.

On the season, Gronkowski has caught eight passes five four touchdowns.

Jake Locker, the athletic sophomore quarterback who torched the Wildcats during last year’s 48-41 shootout in Seattle, spent last night’s contest on the sidelines with an enormous cast wrapped around his throwing hand.

Locker tore ligaments in his right thumb during last week’s loss to Stanford. Even though Locker expressed interest in playing safety, he was not medically cleared to participate.

Without Locker and the dozens of custom plays Washington’s coaching staff has drawn up to highlight his unique skills the Huskies (0-5, 0-2) struggled to move the ball against Arizona’s defense.

Ronnie Fouch made his first career start last night and had little success against a fired-up Wildcat defense. He completed only 12 of his 28 passes for 181 yards.

Washington’s opening play set the tone. Fouch rolled to his right on a naked bootleg with an ample amount of turf in front of him. Sterling Lewis quickly closed the gap and drilled Fouch out of bounds. Locker’s presence and play-making ability was sorely missed from that point on.

Arizona tacked on one more score as the first quarter ended when Nic Grigsby scored from four yards out to put the Wildcats ahead 17-0. After a pair of slightly sub-par games from the dynamic sophomore tailback, Grigsby found his rhythm once again, picking up 113 yards on 14 carries.

“Our running backs were outstanding,” Stoops said, also mentioning exemplary efforts from Xavier Smith, Keola Antolin and even freshman quarterback Matt Scott (who picked up 64 yards rushing in mop-up duty). “Everyone handled the ball well and hit their holes quickly.”

Washington attempted to make it a game early in the second quarter, when the Huskies finally had the wind at their backs. Stoops warned his squad that Fouch would try to go long, but Jermaine Kearse found a way to sneak past Marquis Hundley and Nate Ness for a 62-yard bomb.

The play would account for one-third of the team’s passing yardage and set up the Huskies’ first score, a one-yard plunge from fullback Paul Homer to cut the lead to 17-7.

“That was frustrating,” Stoops said. “Outside of that one play, I was really pleased with our defense’s recognition.”

The Wildcats have been among the top-five defenses in the nation, thanks in large part to the squad’s tight pass coverage.

Special teams has been another strength this season, with Mike Thomas winning Pac-10 Player of the Week honors last week. He added to that reputation with an electrifying 48-yard punt return his first career special-teams touchdown to put the Wildcats up 24-7.

“Mike is a game-changer,” Stoops said. “Simple as that.”

Tuitama hit Gronkowski twice more on short slant routes to put the game out of reach. The senior signal-caller finished 17-21 for 193 yards and three touchdowns before giving way to Scott late in the third quarter.

At one point, Tuitama completed 14 consecutive passes. It would’ve been more, had Terrell Turner held onto a pinpoint Tuitama pass across the middle.

Jason Bondzio added a wind-aided 49-yard field goal his career long that would’ve been good from 70 yards.

The Wildcats will look to keep their spot atop the standing secure when they head to Stanford on Saturday.

“We’re not good enough to look past anybody,” Stoops said. “Hopefully, we keep our focus and stay efficient.”

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747

Game Stats

WASH UA

First downs 12 28

Rushes-yards 28-63 51-256

Passing 181 193

Comp-Att-Int 12-28-1 17-21-0

Return Yards 0 52

Punts-Avg. 8-35.9 3-37.0

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 3-31 1-10

Time of Possession 23:48 36:12

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING: Washington, B.Johnson 13-35, Griffin 3-21, Dailey 6-18, Homer 1-1, Fouch 3-1, J.Polk 1-(minus 5), Team 1-(minus 8). Arizona, Grigsby 14-113, Scott 6-58, X.Smith 7-36, Booth 5-33, Antolin 12-33, Beirne 1-4, Team 4-(minus 5), Tuitama 2-(minus 16).

PASSING: Washington, Fouch 12-28-1-181. Arizona, Tuitama 17-21-0-193.

RECEIVING: Washington, Aguilar 4-35, Hawkins 3-33, Chidiac 3-31, Kearse 1-62, Gottlieb 1-20. Arizona, R.Gronkowski 5-109, Thomas 3-26, Dean 3-16, T.Turner 2-25, B.Lopez 1-12, X.Smith 1-6, Simmons 1-4, Antolin 1-(minus 5).