PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — Dylan Paine scored on a 7-yard run in the second overtime, John Mateer ran it in on the mandatory two-point conversion and Washington State rallied last in a wild 54-52 victory over San Jose State on Friday night.
Emmett Brown answered with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Nick Nash for San Jose State (3-1), but Brown lost the ball under heavy pressure on the two-point try and the Cougars recovered for their second straight 4-0 start under third-year coach Jake Dickert.
Washington State turned a 10-7 first-quarter deficit into a 24-17 lead at halftime thanks to Mateer's 1-yard touchdown run and a pair of touchdown passes to tight end Cooper Mathers covering 4 and 8 yards.
Brown, who transferred after spending last season as a backup at Washington State, led the Spartans to touchdowns on all three third-quarter possessions. He passed to Nash for a 19-yard score and ran it in from a yard out before Floyd Chalk IV scored on an 18-yard run to give San Jose State a 38-24 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
Mateer connected with Kyle Williams for a 13-yard touchdown with 13:41 remaining. Mateer hit Josh Meredith for a 36-yard touchdown after the Spartans turned the ball over on downs. But Dean Janikowski missed the point-after kick and WSU trailed 38-37.
Kyle Thornton’s interception gave the Cougars the ball at the Spartans’ 32-yard line. Mateer hit Meredith for a 31-yard gain and Paine ran it in on the next play. WSU's lead was 43-38 after a two-point try failed.
Brown connected with TreyShun Hurry for a 20-yard touchdown on fourth-and-10 and passed to Nash for two points and a 46-43 Spartans' lead with 26 second to go.
That was enough time for Mateer to hit Williams for a 32-yard gain before running for 8 more, setting up Janikowski's 52-yard field goal to send it to OT.
Redshirt freshman Ethan O'Connor picked off Brown to end San Jose State's first extra possession. DJ Harvey picked off Mateer to end WSU's first possession.
Mateer finished with 390 yards on 26-for-46 passing with four touchdowns and two picks. He also ran for 111 yards and a score. Mateer, a sophomore, has 11 touchdown passes and six rushing scores in his first four career starts. Williams had eight catches for 138 yards.
Brown completed 35 of 54 passes for 375 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Nash finished with 16 receptions for 152 yards and two touchdowns. He entered the game leading the nation in catches (34), receiving yards (485) and touchdown catches (6). Chalk carried 11 times for 94 yards and two touchdowns. He scored on a 66-yard run on the Spartans' second play from scrimmage.
UP NEXT
Washington State: Travels to play the Boise State Broncos on Sept. 28.
San Jose State: Hosts the Nevada Wolf Pack on Oct. 5.
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Washington State defensive back Ethan O'Connor (24) secures an intercepted San Jose State pass during overtime in an NCAA college football game, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Pullman, Wash. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)
San Jose State running back Floyd Chalk IV, front right, carries the ball during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Washington State, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Pullman, Wash. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A New Zealand pilot held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region was freed by separatist rebels, Indonesian authorities said Saturday.
Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a 38-year-old pilot from Christchurch, was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air when he was abducted by rebels from a remote airport on Feb. 7, 2023.
He was handed over early Saturday to the Cartenz Peace Taskforce, the joint security force set up by the Indonesian government to deal with separatist groups in Papua, after he was allowed to walk free, said the taskforce spokesperson Bayu Suseno.
“We managed to pick him up in good health” in the Yuguru village of Nduga district, Suseno said, adding that Mehrtens was flown to the mining town Timika for further health checks, including psychological examination.
Rebels have used violence to try to achieve independence as the security situation deteriorates in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.
Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 under a United Nations-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered in the region. Conflict spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed.
Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander in the Free Papua Movement, initially said the rebels would not release Mehrtens unless Indonesia’s government allows Papua to become a sovereign country.
Then on Tuesday, leaders of the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement known as TPNPB, issued a proposal for freeing Mehrtens that outlined terms including news media involvement in his release.
Suseno said that Mehrtens’ release was the result of hard work from a small task force team that had been communicating with the separatists led by Kogoya through the local church and community leaders, as well as youth figures.
“This is incredibly good news,” said Suseno in a video statement. “Effort to free the pilot by soft approach resulted in a hostage release without any casualties both from security forces, civilians or the pilot himself.”
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters confirmed Mehrtens’ release after 592 days in captivity.
“We are pleased and relieved to confirm that Phillip Mehrtens is safe and well and has been able to talk with his family,” Peters said in a written statement Saturday. “This news must be an enormous relief for his friends and loved ones.”
Peters said a wide range of New Zealand government agencies had been working with Indonesian authorities and others to secure the release for the past 19 1/2 months. Officials were also supporting Mehrtens’ family, Peters said.
Many news outlets showed “cooperation and restraint” in reporting the story, he added.
“The case has taken a toll on the Mehrtens family, who have asked for privacy,” Peters said. “We ask media outlets to respect their wishes and therefore we have no further comment at this stage.”
New Zealand news outlets reported during Mehrtens’ captivity that he was one of a number of expatriate pilots employed by Susi Air and in recent years lived in Bali with his family.
“We’ve got him free,” Peters told reporters Saturday in Auckland, New Zealand. The development was an “enormous relief," he said.
Mehrtens was in Timika, Papua, Peters said, but would travel to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, “very, very soon to be reunited with his family.”
Peters had not spoken to Mehrtens since his release. The news was “one of the better stories I’ve had” in his 45 years as a lawmaker, the three-time foreign minister added.
He declined to give details about how the pilot was freed. It was a “tricky” environment and building trust had been the most difficult aspect, Peters said.
“It was quite nerve-wracking, holding our nerve and not getting too carried away, not doing anything that might imperil the chances,” he said. “Because there was always a concern of ours that we might not succeed.”
Indonesia President Joko Widodo congratulated the military and police who helped free the pilot by prioritizing persuasion and safety.
“This was through a very long negotiation process and our patience not to do it repressively," Widodo said.
In April 2023, armed separatists attacked Indonesian troops who were deployed to rescue Mehrtens, killing at least six soldiers.
In August, gunmen stormed a helicopter and killed its New Zealand pilot, Glen Malcolm Conning, after it landed in Alama, a remote village in the Mimika district of Central Papua province. No one has claimed responsibility for that attack, and the rebels and Indonesian authorities have blamed each other.
In 1996, the Free Papua Movement abducted 26 members of a World Wildlife Fund research mission in Mapenduma. Two kidnapped Indonesians were killed by their abductors. The remaining hostages were freed within five months.
Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.
This story has been updated with the correct spelling of the pilot's first name. It's Phillip, not Philip.
FILE - Police guard a hospital where workers threatened by Papuan rebels were brought for medical examinations in Mimika, Papua province, Indonesia, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. Security forces evacuated the workers from an area where they were searching for a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by separatist rebels of the West Papua Liberation Army. (AP Photo/Saldi Hermanto, File)
FILE - New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters comments during an interview with The Associated Press in his parliamentary office in the capital, Wellington, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Tantrum, File)
In this photo released by Cartenz Peace Task Force (Satgas Damai Cartenz) of the Indonesian security forces, New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, left, who was held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region, sits with police officers after his release, in Timika, Papua province, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Satgas Damai Cartenz via AP)
In this photo released by Cartenz Peace Task Force (Satgas Damai Cartenz) of the Indonesian security forces, New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, who was held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region, sits after his release, in Timika, Papua province, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Satgas Damai Cartenz via AP)
In this photo released by Cartenz Peace Task Force (Satgas Damai Cartenz) of the Indonesian security forces, New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, left, who was held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region, sits with a police officers after his release, in Timika, Papua province, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Satgas Damai Cartenz via AP)
