Posted at 9:56 p.m., Saturday, October 25, 2003
Warriors stop UTEP, 31-15
Advertiser Staff
Justin Ayat converted four field goals and the Hawai'i football team withstood several Texas-El Paso threats for a 31-15 victory tonight at Aloha Stadium.The Warriors improved to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the Western Athletic Conference, moving into sole possession of second place. The Miners, who extended their Isle losing streak to five, fell to 2-6 and 1-2.
The Miners missed several scoring opportunties. Two field-goal attempts struck the right upright, a pass was intercepted in the end zone by the lone safety playing deep coverage and a touchdown run was nullified because of a holding penalty.
The Miners managed to close to 25-15 when quarterback Jordan Palmer broke the plane of the end zone on a one-yard keeper before fumbling. On the ensuing two-point conversion, tailback Matt Austin took a pitch from Orlando Cruz and raced around left end. But free safety Leonard Peters chased down Austin, maintaining the Warriors’ two-possession lead.
The Warriors then advanced to the UTEP 13. From there, quarterback Tim Chang lofted a pass that a sprinting Jeremiah Cockheran secured with his fingertips near the back of the end zone for a 31-15 lead with 2:28 to go. The extra-point kick failed.
