Miners deal major blow to Warriors

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

EL PASO, TEXAS — With Texas-El Paso comfortably ahead in the middle of the fourth quarter, what remained of a Sun Bowl crowd of 44,381 began to depart, leaving behind deflated ThunderStix-like noisemakers, crunched-up cups and the rubble that was the Hawai'i football team.

UTEP's Jonas Craft celebrated after catching a 3-yard TD pass from Jordan Palmer in the first quarter which put the Miners ahead for good. Victor Calzada • Associated Press

The Warriors, 2-3 overall and 2-2 in the WAC, need to win five of their remaining seven regular-season games — including two road games (at Boise State and Fresno State) and two against Big Ten programs (Northwestern and Michigan State) — to earn a berth in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl on Christmas Eve.

The Miners, who descended on the field from a concourse-level "mine shaft" during pre-game introductions, uncovered a lump of coal for the Warriors' holiday plans.

"Losing is always disappointing," said UH quarterback Tim Chang, who passed for 294 yards and two touchdowns, both to former Saint Louis School classmate Gerald Welch. "The way we lost made it that much harder."

The Warriors failed to complete two fake-punt passes, including one on the opening drive, giving the Miners possession 18 yards from pay dirt. Chad Owens, who scored on punt returns in each of the past two games, muffed two punts. Justin Ayat's extra-point kick, which would have tied it at 14 in the first quarter, was blocked. On the ensuing possession, his field-goal attempt from 29 yards sailed wide right.

Adding injury to insult, two co-captains — Chang and cornerback Abraham Elimimian, who made a school-record-tying three interceptions, including one for a touchdown — missed playing time because of injuries. Chang aggravated an injury to his left shoulder when he was floored by defensive end Ibok Ibok after the whistle sounded. Ibok was assessed a personal foul and, two plays later, Chang headed to the training room.

"It was hard for me to turn the shoulder," the right-handed Chang said. "But after a while, the pain went away, and it was all good."

Chang, who told a UTEP player he has a "slight shoulder separation," returned for two second-half series and said he expects to start in the coming game against San Jose State.

Elimimian suffered a pulled right hamstring on UTEP's second series in the second half. He did not play after that. "It feels better now," Elimimian said. "It feels like a slight sprain."

Elimimian's availability was in question when he suffered a sprained right ankle during Thursday's practice. "I was going to take some medication for it, but at the last minute, I thought I'd play through it."

Elimimian was needed to provide leadership for an ailing defensive secondary. Right cornerback Kenny Patton and backup Turmarian Moreland did not make the trip because of hamstring injuries. Then, in the first half, starting right safety Lono Manners suffered a fractured ankle. Jones said Manners will not play again this season. In Manners' absence, UH rotated Matt Manuma, Landon Kafentzis and Lamar Broadway.

UTEP's Chris Francies beat UH's Omega Hogan and hauled in a 13-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Palmer in the fourth quarter. Mark Lamble • Special to The Advertiser

"I feel we did a lot of things right," Palmer said, "but with my four interceptions, well, I have a few things to learn from."

Of the Miners' nine first-half possessions, four resulted in points (three Palmer scoring passes and Reagan Schneider's 48-yard field goal), two in Bryce Benekos' impressive punts (a 64-yarder and a kick downed on the UH 3) and three Elimimian interceptions.

"The last couple of games, I really haven't gotten a lot of action on my side," said Elimimian, who usually is aligned on the defense's left. "For some reason, this guy thought he could throw at me. I got him three times."

Elimimian's 20-yard interception return for a touchdown closed the Warriors to 14-13. On the ensuing point-after attempt, defensive lineman Chris Mineo powered his way from the middle for the rejection.

"I've got to give the guy credit," Ayat said. "He was just there."

As for his missed field goal, which would have put ahead the Warriors on the next possession, Ayat said, "I thought I hit it good. I looked up, and it's on its way. At the last minute, it just got blown out right outside the right upright."

UTEP's Jackson said UH's missed opportunities "gave us a boost."

UH coach June Jones said: "We just didn't make plays in the first half. Offensively, you can't do that on the road. You have to stay focused and get it done."

Jones said UH entered with two points of emphasis: Slow Jackson, a speedster (4.3 seconds over 40 yards) in the Miners' one-back offense, and force the action.

It was why he announced during a Monday meeting that he would go for a fake punt the first chance possible, regardless of the line of scrimmage. When UH's opening drive stalled at its 18, upback Chad Kapanui took the snap, rolled to his left and lofted a pass to Kilinahe Noa. The play worked in the previous meeting in El Paso in 2002; this time it was incomplete. Five plays later, UTEP took a 7-0 lead.

"I told the team, 'When you're in these games on the road, you have to take risks,' " Jones said, "and we took a risk."

Kapanui said: "I thought it was going to work."

As for the plan to stop Jackson, the Warriors had early success. He rushed for 44 yards on his first 13 carries. But with UTEP leading 21-13, Jackson ran four times for 29 yards, setting up Schneider's field goal as time expired in the first half.

"The offensive linemen did a great job," said Jackson, who finished with 138 yards and a touchdown. "A lot of the things they were doing up front was confusing to Hawai'i."

With Jackson finding openings on sweeps to the perimeter and behind zone blocks inside, the Warriors were vulnerable to Palmer's play-action passes, particularly after he figured out how to avoid Elimimian.

"Absolutely, I did not want to throw his way anymore," Palmer said. "He picked me off three times. I tried to go away from him."

Elimimian switched, from left to the right side and back — a shell game that ended when he left with his injury.

The Miners defense, meanwhile, frustrated the Warriors with delayed blitzes from the corners, safeties and linebackers. The Miners used a three-man front, with outside linebacker Thomas Howard often sneaking to the line of scrimmage as a pass-rusher. At the back of the defense, the Miners used a zone with five defensive backs. Jahmal Fenner twice intercepted Chang's understudy, Kainoa Akina.

Fenner said the Miners were motivated to play one of the nation's best passing attacks. "We didn't want Chang to go crazy on us," Fenner said. "Oh, no, not that. We knew we had to play our coverage and try to lock them down. I guess we did that."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.