Bobby Wade arguably had his best game of the season against ASU on Friday to give the Wildcats an added edge over the Sun Devils.
The UA junior wide receiver caught 11 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown, career highs for yardage and receptions in a game. He also received the Ben Goo Award for the game, chosen by the press and presented to the MVP of the winning team.
"This is my personal-best game, but I take pride in the two tackles I had," Wade said with a grin, referring to his work on special teams and after a UA interception.
Wade hauled in seven receptions for 131 yards with no touchdowns against Stanford two weeks ago. He had six catches for 118 yards and three touchdowns against California on Nov. 3, which tied a school-record for touchdowns. Wade also had eight catches for 84 yards against USC in late October.
Wade moved up UA's all-time receptions chart to No. 5 on the list with 62 catches on the year, surpassing Dennis Northcutt and Jeremy McDaniel with 58 receptions. Wade also moved ahead of Derek Hill (1,925 from 1985-88) on the career receiving yardage list with 1,962 yards in the last two seasons.
UA quarterback Jason Johnson found Wade early and often in the first quarter, hitting him six times for 97 yards. Wade also recorded his one touchdown of the game on the opening drive, a 19-yard reception to give the Wildcats an early lead with 8:31 left in the first quarter.
Wade was stagnant during the second quarter, catching only one pass for eight yards. He headed into halftime with seven catches for 105 yards. Comparatively, Donnie O'Neal was ASU's top receiver at halftime with four catches for 43 yards and one touchdown.
Eight of UA's 25 first downs were recorded due to passes caught by Wade. Fourteen of the Wildcats' first downs were on passing plays.
"It's great, especially to be able to play here in front of their (ASU's) home fans, being MVP. I couldn't ask for anything more, it's just perfect," Wade said.
Wade caught three more passes in the third quarter for 41 yards, including a 22-yard reception that helped set up UA's fourth touchdown of the game. Wade added one more reception in the fourth quarter, an 11-yard pass from Johnson that added to his total.
"It's great, but like I said, it's just another day," Wade said. "It's not extraordinary. It's nothing out of my range, it's just what I needed to do to help this Wildcat team win."
UA earned 225 total yards on 18 receptions to ASU's 16 receptions for 217 yards. UA's Malosi Leonard was the second-highest receiver with four catches for 55 yards and one touchdown.
"Fortunately, our defense was able to play well. We just came out and played hard," Wade said. "It was the best game of our season."
Reach Steve Ganczaruk at massahG1@aol.com.
