VIDEO: UH football beats Navy, 24-17
VIDEO: UH vs. Navy: 1st Quarter
VIDEO: UH vs. Navy: 2nd Quarter
VIDEO: UH vs. Navy: 3rd Quarter
VIDEO: UH vs. Navy: 4th Quarter

The Warriors relied on a bruised quarterback, a no-longer-ignored receiver, and an evolving defense for a pulsating 24-17 victory over Navy last night at Aloha Stadium.

The outcome extended a winning streak to four games and the Warriors' last-breath hopes of qualifying for the postseason.

The Warriors, 2-6 a month ago, need to defeat Wisconsin this Saturday to finish the 13-game regular season with a winning record and earn the accompanying berth in the Dec. 24 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

"Still alive, baby," UH safety Mana Silva said. "This is 'Survivor,' the Hawai'i edition."

"We are survivors," said linebacker Blaze Soares, who made the game-ending sack. "When you believe in one another, when everybody is on the same page, great things can be done. Everybody thought we were dead. We have one more game to go. It's balls to the walls. Let's go."

The Warriors entered as 9-point underdogs to Navy, which already qualified for the Texas Bowl. They exited best in show.

"Our fans were great," UH head coach Greg McMackin said of the 36,834 in attendance, noting that it was so loud during the final defensive stand that plays had to be hand-signaled. "That 12th Warrior helped us."

The Warriors also received a boost from quarterback Bryant Moniz, wideout Kealoha Pilares, running back Alex Green and a gritty defense.

Moniz, who did not play last week because of bruised ribs, completed 32 of 44 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Two scoring passes went to Pilares, whose production had dropped since moving to left wideout.

As the right slotback in the first six games, Pilares caught 41 passes. In the next five games, as the injury replacement for left wideout Rodney Bradley, Pilares managed 14 catches.

"It's hard to play wideout, running streaks all day," Pilares said of his role largely as a decoy. "The ball hardly comes to you."

But during a chapel service two weeks ago, the pastor spoke of patience, and encouraged the players to embrace PUSH — play until something happens.

"It pertained to me," he said of the sermon. "I had to stay focused, keep my mind in the game."

With the Midshipmen dropping their safeties in a two-deep zone, Moniz was able to find left slotback Greg Salas on inside screens and posts. Salas had 10 catches for 147 yards. Moniz also went to Pilares on corner routes and, yes, streaks. Pilares had eight catches for 102 yards.

The 24-yard scoring pass, in the first quarter, was Pilares' first reception on a steak pattern this year.

"Mo eye(-faked) the corner," Salas said of Pilares' touchdown play.

And just before the half, Moniz threw 7 yards to Pilares at the end of a post route to tie it at 17.

"You never know whose game it's going to be," Moniz said. "Anybody can step up. This week it was Kealoha."

Then in the third quarter, the Warriors drove to the Navy 14.

Quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich called "580," which requires the right wideout to run a post. Green, the running back, sneaked to the right flat as a safety valve. As Moniz scanned the field — 1 second, 2, 3 ... — Green began yelling.

"I said, 'Throw me the ball,' " Green recalled.

Moniz obliged. Green caught the swing pass at the 16, and powered his way for the only touchdown of the second half.

"We never did that before," Moniz said. "I mean, we ran the play before, but it never worked out like that. He's a hot read. If they blitz, I give it to him. They didn't blitz. Usually, he doesn't get the ball. But he was hungry for it. You could see he was ready for it."

Green said: "I ran to the end zone as fast as I could."

But later, in the fourth quarter, the Warriors faced a fourth-and-1 at the Navy 16. McMackin disdained the field goal and opted to go for the first down, saying later, "It was just 6 inches."

But as the play clock went down to 1 second, Moniz took the snap and handed off to Green on a trap play. The Midshipmen sent an all-out blitz, and Green's running path was clogged. He was stopped for no gain.

"I got stuck," Green said. "They won that battle."

Then Navy made a rare mistake, burning its third timeout following the change of possession. With 5:41 to play, the Midshipmen had to go 84 yards, without a timeout.

They also had to figure out a new tactic for their triple-option offense.

The scheme — in which quarterback Ricky Dobbs can feed fullback Vince Murray, pitch to a trailing slotback or keep it — was UH's base offense for 10 years under coach Bob Wagner. Navy's head coach is former UH quarterback Ken Niumatalolo, and its offensive coordinator, Ivin Jasper, shared quarterback duties on UH's Holiday Bowl championship team in 1992.

Navy had scored touchdowns on Dobbs' 53-yard run off a mid-line option, and Murray's 18-yard sprint through the gut of UH's defense.

But the Warriors kept changing schemes. They opened the game with a 4-4 scheme, in which two safeties — Silva and Spencer Smith — aligned as outside linebackers. That helped negate Dobbs' option pitches on the perimeter.

But then, the Midshipmen went with the shift formation. They have eight different offensive formations, and the shift — in which they overload the blocking on one side — was their least used.

"I could count on one hand how many times we repped it (in practice)," said UH defensive line coach Dave Aranda, who made most of the defensive calls. "They majored in that (formation) in this game."

In preparing for this game, Aranda called dozens of coaches across the country. He also viewed hours of videos on the triple-option. His counter-plan was to shift over the linebackers, change the slant by the defensive linemen, and have cornerbacks Jeramy Bryant and Lametrius Davis defend the perimeters on running plays.

With the game on the line, the Midshipmen drove to the UH 39.

But on first down, Marcus Curry took a pitch and was knocked down by Bryant for a 2-yard loss.

"It was a perfect call by the coaches," Bryant said. "I was at the right place."

On second down, defensive ends Liko Satele and Fetaiagogo Fonoti stopped Dobbs after a 1-yard gain.

On third down, Dobbs tried to throw off a bootleg. But a back missed a block, and linebacker R.J. Kiesel-Kauhane had a clear path to the quarterback.

"Usually on third-and-long, he has a five-step drop," Kiesel-Kauhane said of the sack for a 10-yard loss. "I saw his back. I hit him."

At fourth-and-21, the Warriors looked to the sideline for the call. Because of the crowd's roar, associate head coach Rich Miano and McMackin had to use hand signals.

No words were necessary.

"We were going after (Dobbs)," Soares said.

With the defensive backs covering the receivers, and Satele opening a gap, Soares stormed into the backfield.

"If I didn't get the sack, I should quit football right now," Soares said.

Soares brought down Dobbs, and the 9-yard loss, with no time remaining, brought down the house.

"It feels awesome," Soares said. "We won this as a team. Now we have one more to go."

Visit Tsai's blog at http://warriorbeat.honadvblogs.com.