Tired of having the rubber granules of Aloha Stadium's FieldTurf kicked in its faces for a half, Hawai'i's defense turned bull in the second half to help the Warriors rally from a 17-7 halftime deficit in a 36-17 home- opening win against Weber State last night.

"We knew we could play a lot better, (that) we could play sound football and we accomplished that in second half," UH free safety Keao Monteilh said. "In the locker room, we had our word, told everybody we have to be fired up. We have to come out and play Hawai'i football."

The Warriors' defense was pushed around for 141 yards and 10 first downs by the Wildcats of the Big Sky Conference. Hawai'i couldn't hold its early 7-0 lead, allowing Weber State to put up 17 unanswered points before the half. After a 28-yard field goal by Jon Williams pulled them to 7-3, the Wildcats later drove 80 yards in 13 plays for their first TD to take a 10-7 lead. They then recycled a fumble into another TD to make it 17-7.

But after UH opened the second half by scoring on its first series behind quarterback Tyler Graunke to pull to 17-14, the Warriors' defense came alive and settled the game like middle relievers in baseball, giving its offense a chance to rally. When it was over, the Wildcats never crossed midfield in the second half. The only time they got into UH territory was when the Warriors lost a fumble at their own 15. Still, the defense gave up no yards in the series to keep the Wildcats scoreless in the second half.

"We just told ourselves to buckle down and do our own assignments," said UH linebacker Brashton Satele, who led his team with nine tackles. "Coach was talking about it the whole week, doing our own assignments. Don't do more than you have to. Just do what you have to do.

"They had a good first half, driving the ball and stuff. Second half, we came out and stopped them."

The Warriors' defense set the tone on the Wildcats' first series of the second half. On second-and-14 from the WSU 38, Satele blitzed and chased quarterback Cameron Higgins deep in the backfield, forcing the former Saint Louis quarterback into intentionally grounding the ball.

"We work on blitzing off the ball," Satele said of the play. "The ball's the trigger."

Satele was credited with a sack for his effort, much to his surprise.

"My first sack," he said, believing it only after perusing the official stats after the game.

The Wildcats eventually punted.

The Warriors regained the lead after turning an interception by Monteilh into a score. Cornerback Calvin Roberts tipped a Higgins pass near the UH sideline that Monteilh made like a wide receiver trying to keep his feet in bounds at the WSU 35. He got a bit of ragging from his teammates.

"I saw the sideline, so I kind of had to reach out, do a little stutter step," Monteilh said. "Everybbody told me I should've stopped, turned around and run. But I got no moves, so I just went out of bounds and let the offense take the ball."

When it was over, the Wildcats had just 72 yards in the second half. Erik Robinson and John Fonoti also had sacks; Jeramy Bryant also had an interception in the waning seconds of the game.

"That's how we should've been playing the whole game," Satele said of the team's second-half performance. "Good thing we picked it up."

Monteilh is already looking to this Saturday.

"We got our win, but now we have to focus on Oregon State and we're going to do our thing up there, too," Monteilh said.