Warriors win fifth in a row
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By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Mother said there would be football games like this.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
But despite the offense's early bumbles, stumbles and fumbles, Hawai'i's defense crafted the mother of all run defenses in a 34-10 victory over San Jose State last night.
Warrior Thero Mitchell is off and running for a 20-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Mitchell also ran 18 yards for a third-quarter score.
A crowd of 33,923 saw the Warriors stop the Spartans' heralded rushing attack to win their fifth in a row and remain in the Western Athletic Conference chase. UH running back Thero Mitchell rushed for two touchdowns.
The Warriors, who improved to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in the WAC, play their final league game Saturday against Boise State. Louisiana Tech, which defeated Boise State yesterday, is the only team with one WAC loss. The Bulldogs, who have two WAC games remaining, and the Warriors do not meet this season.
The Warriors lost three fumbles — one on the Spartan 5, another on the 17 — and were intercepted once. The Spartans had possession for 39 minutes, 30 seconds — precisely 19 minutes more than the Warriors had the ball.
But all of that meant little against a lion-hearted UH defense that played without starting cornerback Abraham Elimimian and, for all but one play, its leading tackler, Pisa Tinoisamoa. Tinoisamoa suffered a strained lower right leg Tuesday and was unable to compete in contact drills the rest of the week.
During warmups last night, "He begged me to let him play," UH defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa recalled.
Tinoisamoa went in for one play — then exited soon after.
"I tried to push it," Tinoisamoa said. "But when I went full speed (the leg) wasn't cooperating."
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Lempa then summoned Keani Alapa, who is better suited to play strong-side linebacker, to replace Tinoisamoa on the weak side. It appeared to be a gamble against a Spartan team that last week rushed for 464 yards against Tulsa, an average of 11.3 yards per carry.
Spartan receiver Juan Walden has a facemask-to-facemask meeting with Warrior linebacker Matt Wright, who makes a tackle in the second quarter.
"We had one goal: to stop the run," said UH middle linebacker Chris Brown, who played with an injured right shoulder in the second half. "We were going to do whatever we could to stop them."
The Spartans also were short-handed, with their best running back, Deonce Whitaker, suffering from a sprained right knee, and their possession receiver, Casey Le Blanc, slowed by a pulled hamstring. Whitaker was used for four downs — two rushes, a reception and as a decoy on a play-action play. Le Blanc played one down.
"Deonce couldn't be with us, but we still played hard," said Jarmar Julien, who rushed for 124 yards on 23 carries. "We're a team, not a one-man team."
Indeed, even Julien, who switched from H-back (the blocking position) to tailback, could not solely boost the Spartans.
The Spartans netted 124 yards rushing on 40 carries, an average of 3.1 yards per carry.
"We stepped it up," UH defensive end La'anui Correa said. "Pisa wasn't there and Chris (Brown) was hurting, but we came through. We don't have a first string or a second string or a third string. We have one continuous string. If somebody goes down, another person steps up. We're a team."
Said Brown: "We knew they only had two running plays: the counter and the toss sweep. We tried to be aggressive and stop those plays."
The UH defensive linemen attacked on slant moves, with the linebackers sliding against the grain to chase the Spartan ballcarriers.
"We were confusing their O-linemen," UH outside linebacker Matt Wright said.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Said Brown: "We wanted to stop the run, then make them pass."
Five-foot-6, 158-pound Warrior running back Mike Bass gets an escort from 6-foot-4, 331-pound tackle Uriah Moenoa.
The key play came in the third quarter, when the Spartans, down 13-10, drove to the UH 26. With nowhere to run, the Spartans decided to pass. Clint Carlson rolled to his right and lofted a pass into the end zone. UH safety Jacob Espiau, playing with a separated right shoulder, made a leaping interception.
"I saw (Carlson) go to his right and then he disappeared," Espiau said. "Then I saw the line move. Then I saw the ball. I went up to get it."
Said Spartan coach Fitz Hill: "That killed us, just killed us."
UH then drove 80 yards in four plays, with Ashley Lelie's 49-yard reception leading to Mitchell's 18-yard scoring run and a 20-10 lead. The drive took 1 minute, 16 seconds; no UH scoring drive took more than 2:03.
Mitchell also added a 20-yard scoring run and Craig Stutzmann caught an 18-yard scoring pass, his first touchdown since the season opener.
"Our players really worked hard for this," Lempa said. "A lot of things didn't go their way, but they found a way to win."
