Hours before what would become a 31-15 football victory, Jones summoned his players to a meeting room at the 'Ilikai Hotel, where they had spent the night, and spoke of his father.

"He told us how much his father meant to him, how much others should mean to us, and how we should play for them and each other," UH cornerback Abraham Elimimian said "It was such an emotional speech. It really fired us up."

Linebacker Ikaika Curnan recalled: "It was the perfect speech for the perfect day. When we got to (Aloha Stadium), I looked around the locker room and I got chicken skin thinking about what Coach Jones told us. It was our homecoming game, we were wearing our black uniforms and we were going to battle. I knew good things were going to happen."

While the offense was uneven, the defense was focused, limiting the Miners to one touchdown — a bungled one, at that — to boost the Warriors to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the Western Athletic Conference, good for sole possession of second place.

The Miners, who have lost five in a row in the Islands, fell to 2-6 and 1-2. They departed on an 11:15 flight last night, frustrated at the numerous missed opportunities. Two field-goal attempts struck the right upright, a touchdown was nullified because of a holding penalty and Gilmore, the lone defensive back in deep coverage, intercepted an overthrown pass in the end zone.

That turnover was an example of all of the things that wouldn't go right for the Miners. Earlier in that drive, starting tight end Jonas Crafts was slightly injured. His replacement, Casey Mauch, and freshman quarterback Jordan Palmer apparently miscommunicated on the pass route into the end zone.

"I was trying to bait (Palmer) because I knew they were going to run the tight end right up the seam," said Gilmore, who started in place of free safety Leonard Peters. "I tried to stay inside a bit ... and it worked."

Later, Peters came in as the fifth defensive back and broke up a pass in the end zone. Soon after, Palmer recovered his fumble in the end zone at the end of a 1-yard keeper, closing the Miners to 25-15 with 6:07 to play.

On the ensuing two-point attempt, running back Matt Austin took a pitch from backup quarterback Orlando Cruz. Peters chased down Austin, maintaining the Warriors' two-possession lead.

"We knew they were going to run because they put in a different quarterback," Peters said. "I focused on my keys, and did my job."

Gilmore was one of the first to congratulate Peters. "He's a good guy," Peters said. "I'm happy for Happy (Gilmore). I'm happy he had a good game."

The Warriors then drove 80 yards in nine plays to move out of reach. The final 13 yards came on Jeremiah Cockheran's fingertip catch of Tim Chang's pass near the back of the end zone.

"I knew I had to catch the ball," Cockheran said. "Timmy threw the ball in a nice spot where I could handle it. I just made the play, and it was all history."

Cockheran was limping while running back to the sideline, and he admitted he aggravated his chronically sprained right ankle.

"I wasn't going to come out," he said. "I'm a soldier. I had to stay in there for my team. We needed leadership in this game."

Even though Chang finished with 426 passing yards and three touchdowns, the offense never appeared to be in sync against the Miners' aggressive, switching defense.

"I thought I was very inaccurate," said Chang, who had suffered from flu-like symptoms all day. "It cost us with a lot of three-and-outs, things like that."

But Chang managed to also throw scoring passes to Se'e Poumele and Miyashiro, a 29-year-old senior, as well as deliver shovel passes to Michael Brewster, who finished with eight catches. The rest, Chang said, "was left to special teams and the defense."

Palmer was sacked three times, including one in which he fumbled while being tackled by Hyrum Peters at midfield.

"The defense had something to prove," UH linebacker Keani Alapa said. "Everybody said we couldn't stop the run. We tried to go out there and prove everybody wrong. We really stepped it up. Sometimes they got into the red zone, but when it counted, we came through."