Fresno State Escapes With Win

Raymond Washington leaped high to block Tommy Kirovski’s 31-yard field goal attempt as time expired, giving Fresno State a 16-14 victory over San Diego State on Thursday night at Fresno despite the absence of two key players.

The Aztecs were shut out until the waning seconds of the third quarter, but they were in position to make Coach Tom Craft’s debut a huge success when Adam Hall drove San Diego State 51 yards to the Fresno State 14 with two seconds left.

The long snap was bobbled a bit and Washington, a freshman backup cornerback, jumped over the pile to block the kick.

Freshman backup quarterback Paul Pinegar passed for 196 yards, and Asen Asparuhov kicked three field goals as Fresno State (1-1) barely escaped without starting quarterback Jeff Grady and star receiver Bernard Berrian. Both players were held out of the home opener to rest injuries they sustained last week at Wisconsin.

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In other games:

Derek Anderson completed 15 of 26 passes for 345 yards and three touchdowns to lead Oregon State to a 49-10 victory over Eastern Kentucky at Corvallis, Ore. ... Bret Engemann passed for 386 yards and three touchdowns and Marcus Whalen ran for 140 yards for Brigham Young in a 42-21 victory over Syracuse at Provo, Utah. ... Northern Illinois stopped Wake Forest’s two-point conversion attempt in overtime to defeat the Demon Deacons, 42-41, at Dekalb, Ill.

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Two days after notifying San Jose State’s Neil Parry that the lifetime insurance coverage for his prosthetic legs could be canceled if he returned to football, Mutual of Omaha--the NCAA’s catastrophic insurance carrier--made a special modification to the NCAA’s policy that will keep Parry covered.