By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Every time University of Hawai'i cornerback Abraham Elimimian clutched his right hamstring, it seemed, San Jose State came back after him with passes.

Every time he limped back to the huddle, the Spartans seemed to zero in on his area.

"Maybe, I'm on to something," Elimimian would say later, with a sly grin. "If I act hurt, maybe they'll keep coming after me."

The only thing was, it was no charade last night at Aloha Stadium. The teeth-clenched grimaces were as real as the passes he somehow kept breaking up and the tackles he made in the Warriors' 46-28 victory over San Jose State.

Even at a hobbled "75 or 80 percent" coaches estimated Elimimian performed at, he was up to the task.

In this, Elimimian was the inspirational poster player for a defense short on experienced, able bodies but long on heart and persistence.

On a night when the Warriors hauled out their "lucky" black uniforms, it was their black-and-blue veterans who played a bigger role.

With right cornerback Kenny Patton in street clothes on the bench due to a pulled left hamstring and right safety Lono Manners out for the season with a fractured ankle and a revolving door in the secondary, it was left to Elimimian and Leonard Peters, who had missed practice with a back injury, to help pull the Warriors through.

"We just kept shuffling guys through there (10 players played in the secondary)," assistant coach Rich Miano said. "At some point, I didn't even know who was out there," head coach June Jones admitted.

But there was no doubt who was the glue holding this whole battered and bandaged unit together: Elimimian and Peters.

"At 75 or 80 percent, Abraham is better than most people you find back there," Miano said. Indeed, Elimimian broke up three passes and was third on the team in tackles (four). Peters had a team-high nine tackles and an interception. Together, they steadied the Warriors' most unstable unit.

On a night when the Warriors needed the defense to help keep them in it until a turnover-prone offense could find its rhythm, this battered but unbowed group bought them the time.

With the injuries mounting — linebacker Tanuvasa Moe left in the first quarter with a hamstring injury — this is apparently the way it is going to have to be for a while. If UH is to do anything in this 3-3 season, it is going to have to count on its heart and the tape that holds it together.

For the last three weeks Miano has looked to Elimimian before game day and told him, "give me a wink if you can go, then I'll be able to sleep."

And for three weeks, through an ankle injury and the hamstring, Elimimian has had a reassuring wink for him. "I was a little worried this time because I thought we might not have him," Miano said. "But at the hotel, he gave me the wink and I knew we would be OK."

Well, a half wink, anyway. "That was all it was," Elimimian said, "a half-wink because I wasn't sure. But I knew the team was counting on me and I couldn't let them down.

"Besides, I knew they (the Spartans) would come after me if they saw me out there and I'd have a chance to make some plays."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.