Stanford Cardinal kicker Joshua Karty boots a 44 yard field goal with just five minutes left in the game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Stanford Stadium on Sat Oct 22, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Michael Roberson

STANFORD, Calf.–  The Stanford Cardinal won their Homecoming game on the mighty foot of junior kicker, Joshua Karty, as his five field goals were enough to extinguish the Arizona Sun Devils, 15-14, by a proverbial toenail.

“Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense, but as an old coaching thing that I heard a long time ago that I say sometimes too, which is like, you win one game, win the second one and make it count. That can’t just be a stand-alone game.

You have to go on and win the next one to prove that it wasn’t a fluke.”  Stanford HC David Shaw on team’s consecutive wins.

Stanford initially took the lead the first five minutes of the game, on a 44-yard field goal by Joshua Karty.  Unfortunately, that didn’t last long, because Sun Devil’s graduate running back, X Valladay scampered for a 15-yard touchdown.  Karty kicked another field goal (36yd) within the last two minutes of the first quarter, 7-6 ASU.

Not satisfied with the one-point advantage after 15 minutes of action, Arizona State scored less than a minute into the second stanza, on a 39-yard bomb pass from junior quarterback, Emory Jones to sophomore wide receiver, Elijhah Badger..! 4-6 ASU.

The remaining 14 minutes of the half had both quarterbacks (Jones & Tanner McKee) exchanging interceptions, and Arizona State’s freshman kicker, Carter Brown missed a field goal with 1:00 on the clock.  The Cardinal avoided being down by double-digits at the half. 14-6 ASU.

Joshua Karty converted his third field goal (44 yards) late in the third and his fourth (36 yards) early in the fourth quarter, to bring Stanford within two points in the final quarter.  14-12 ASU
With the game still in the balance, “Mr. Homecoming ” used his right foot again to put out the Sun Devils’ fire, with a 47-yard game winning boot.

Joshua minimized the magnitude of the big annual game.

  “Oh, I try to keep the external dynamics kind of out of my head, like in a game. It was nice that it was homecoming, but for me, when I woke up this morning it was another game to stay locked in as usual.” 

“But just glad I could contribute to the team and get a great team win today.”  Added Karty.

Junior quarterback Tanner McKee threw for an impressive 320 yards on a whopping 57 attempts, but didn’t get into the endzone and threw an interception.  He was just happy for the win.

 The crucial victory marks the Cardinal’s first Pac 12 win of the season, and third overall.  Stanford (3-4) heads down to the “City of Angels” next, to take on the #9 UCLA Bruins (6-1), Saturday, October 29.  

Coach Shaw is ready for the challenge: 

“Looking forward for this team to come back and see who’s healthy this week from today, and then put together a good plan, have our guys get ready to go down to Southern California and fight, and looking forward to this week.”

The Stanford Cardinal win their Homecoming contest by a single point (15-14): however, former player, Bryce Love was inspirational in the victory with his presence on the Farm, according to Coach Shaw.  Cardinal Alum, Christian McCaffery being traded to the San Francisco 49ers also gives him comfort and pleasure, with him now now being nearby the campus and football program.