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WARRIORS FOOTBALL

Home stretch starts

The Hawaii football team plays four of its remaining five games at Aloha Stadium

By Jason Kaneshiro

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 02, 2009

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A dangerous dual-threat quarterback accompanied by a productive runner.

Sound familiar?

After spending an afternoon in Reno, Nev., tracking Nevada's prolific backfield combination, the Hawaii defense will have a similar challenge awaiting them back home this weekend.

Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick and running backs Vai Taua and Luke Lippincott powered the Wolf Pack to a win over the Warriors last Saturday in Reno.

This Saturday, the Warriors will contend with Utah State's duo of Diondre Borel and Robert Turbin to begin a stretch of four home games in a five-week span.

Borel, the Aggies' junior quarterback, enjoyed a breakout game against the Warriors in Utah State's win in Logan, Utah, last year, and trails only Kaepernick in total offense in the WAC this season. Turbin, a sophomore, enters the week as the league's second-leading rusher at 109 yards per game.

Still, where Kaepernick and Co. have Nevada atop the WAC standings, Utah State (2-6, 1-3 WAC) remains in the league's lower half while working through growing pains under first-year head coach Gary Andersen, losing three of their last four games by a total of 10 points.

The Warriors (2-6, 0-5), meanwhile, returned home yesterday with frustrations of their own after battling with Nevada only to suffer their sixth straight loss.

"I think we have good character on our team and every loss hurts, but there's nothing that's going to keep our team down," UH quarterback Bryant Moniz said.

"We take the losses hard, but we let them go and move on because if you just dwell on a loss, another team is going to come to town and kick our butt."

After being blown out in two of their previous three games, the Warriors saw some encouraging signs in the 31-21 loss to Nevada. But being more competitive didn't offer much consolation.

"Overall I thought we played pretty well offensively. It's just that we have to keep consistent," receiver Jon Medeiros said after catching nine passes for 92 yards. "We scored on the first two drives and after that we were pretty much dead until the fourth quarter."

Utah State can certainly relate.

The Aggies led 27-17 at halftime of their game at Fresno State on Saturday but were shut out in the second half and lost 31-27.

Borel rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown and completed 20 of 31 passes for 240 yards and a score. Turbin had 138 yards and the Aggies generated 503 yards in total offense.

Hawaii held Nevada to its lowest point total in WAC play and forced five punts to stay within striking distance for most of the game. But as has been the case during the losing streak, opportunity and execution didn't quite connect.

Two turnovers proved critical, as did Kaepernick's mastery of the spread option, slipping around the end for big gains when Taua and Lippincott weren't plowing for yardage.

"It's just a couple times where (Kaepernick) made plays himself and those are the ones that hurt us the most," safety Mana Silva said. "We had a great game plan coming in and we didn't stray from it. We just stuck to it and they just made a few more plays than we did."

 

Green hitting his stride

Alex Green's work load has kicked up lately. Whether the junior running back plays an even more prominent role will depend on how he performs without the ball.

Green carried the ball a season-high 10 times against Nevada, and his 70 yards were the most for a UH running back this season.

"I think the way the offense is, I get better as the game goes along," Green said. "The more carries I get the stronger I get as a runner, the more in rhythm I get."

While he displayed his ability as a runner, he continues to develop as a blocker in the backfield.

"I'm getting more confident. Coach (Brian Smith) is working with me hard to get my feet right and get to know the system," Green said.

"Pass blocking was one of my weaknesses in JUCO, so I was really working hard in the summer and fall camp and still working hard this season because blocking is a big part of being a running back in a spread offense."

 

The long way home

The Warriors' road trip was unexpectedly extended a bit.

The team left Reno after the game on Saturday night and was scheduled to arrive in Honolulu early yesterday morning.

But a mechanical problem with an inbound flight to Las Vegas meant the Warriors were delayed about 6 hours while waiting for their plane to arrive. They finally landed safely at home a little before 11:30 a.m.

Now that they're back, the Warriors will have some time to settle in at home for a change. Their upcoming games against both sets of Aggies, Utah State and New Mexico State, mark the first time Hawaii will have back-to-back home games this season.

 

FOOTBALL STATISTICS

University of Hawaii

Team Statistics
  Hawaii OPP
SCORING 172 263
Points Per Game 21.5 32.9
FIRST DOWNS 168 185
Rushing 40 98
Passing 117 79
Penalty 11 8
RUSHING YARDAGE 642 1,708
Yards gained rushing 794 1,867
Yards lost rushing 152 194
Rushing Attempts 165 344
Average Per Rush 3.9 5.0
Average Per Game 80.3 213.5
TDs Rushing 5 20
PASSING YARDAGE 2,816 1,694
Att-Comp-Int 355-215-12 221-141-5
Average Per Pass 7.9 7.7
Average Per Catch 13.1 12.0
Average Per Game 352.0 211.8
TDs Passing 16 14
TOTAL OFFENSE 3,458 3,402
Total Plays 520 565
Average Per Play 6.7 6.0
Average Per Game 432.3 425.3
KICK RETURNS: #-Yards 48-1,090 32-943
PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards 16-125 4-19
INT RETURNS: #-Yards 5-22 12-49
KICK RETURN AVERAGE 22.7 29.5
PUNT RETURN AVERAGE 7.8 4.8
INT RETURN AVERAGE 4.4 4.1
FUMBLES-LOST 21-13 22-9
PENALTIES-Yards 49-370 42-400
Average Per Game 46.3 50.0
PUNTS-Yards 25-871 28-1,188
Average Per Punt 34.8 42.4
Net punt average 33.3 36.5
TIME OF POSSESSION/Game 27:46 32:10
3RD-DOWN Conversions 41/89 47/103
3rd-Down Pct 46% 46%
4TH-DOWN Conversions 1/10 11/13
4th-Down Pct 10% 85%
SACKS BY-Yards 9-62 22-116
MISC YARDS 0 67
TOUCHDOWNS SCORED 21 34
FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS 8-11 9-12
ON-SIDE KICKS 2-3 0-0
RED-ZONE SCORES 20-33 61% 34-37 92%
RED-ZONE TDS 13-33 39% 25-37 68%
PAT-ATTEMPTS 18-19 95% 32-32 100%

Rushing
  G Att Net Avg TD Long
Wright-Jackson 8 33 193 5.8 1 45
Green 8 42 213 5.1 2 44
Alexander 4 37 103 2.8 0 23
Moniz 6 29 57 2.0 1 21
Dimude 3 7 40 5.7 0 7
Funaki 7 7 18 2.6 1 8
Rego 4 4 17 4.2 0 9
Pilares 7 1 13 13.0 0 13
Austin 1 1 0 0 0 0
Taylor 6 1 -3 -3.0 0 0
TEAM 7 3 -6 -2.0 0 0
Totals 6 145 524 3.6 5 45

 
Passing
  G Comp Att Int Yds TD Long
Alexander 4 98 150 4 1,433 9 73
Moniz 6 94 166 5 1,202 6 71  
Austin 1 22 36 3 174 1 30
TEAM 7 0 2 0 0 0 0
Funaki 7 1 1 0 7 0 7  
Totals 7 186 306 10 2442 13 73

 
Receiving
  G Rec Yds Avg TD Long
Salas 8 59 977 16.6 5 66
Pilares 8 49 465 9.5 2 32
Bradley 6 31 575 18.5 5 73
Taylor 8 20 256 12.8 2 71
Pollard 5 13 142 10.9 0 21
Medeiros 5 20 238 11.9 2 36
Wright-Jackson 7 9 65 7.2 0 18
Avery 5 6 64 10.7 0 16
Dimude 3 3 21 7.0 0 13
Green 8 3 1 0.3 0 4  
Blount 2 1 8 8.0 0 8
Funaki 7 1 4 4.0 0 4
Totals 7 186 2,442 13.1 13 73

 
Total Offense
  G Plays Rush Pass Tot Avg
Alexander 4 187 103 1,433 1,536 384.0
Moniz 6 195 57 1,202 1,259 209.8
Green 8 42 213 0 213 26.6
Wright-Jackson 8 33 190 0 190 23.8
Austin 1 37 0 174 174 174.0
Dimude 3 7 40 0 40 13.3
Funaki 8 8 18 7 25 3.1
Rego 5 4 17 0 17 3.4
Pilares 8 1 13 0 13 1.6
Taylor 8 1 -3 0 -3 -0.4
TEAM 7 5 -6 0 -6 -0.9
Totals 8 520 642 2,816 3,458 432.2

 
Scoring
  TD FG 1XP 2XP Tot
Enos 0 8 18 0 42
Salas 5 0 0 0 30
Bradley 5 0 0 0 30
Green 2 0 0 0 12
Medeiros 2 0 0 0 12
Taylor 2 0 0 0 12
Pilares 2 0 0 0 12
Wright-Jackson 1 0 0 0 6
Moniz 1 0 0 0 6
Funaki 1 0 0 0 6
TEAM 0 0 0 0 4
Totals 21 8 18 0 172

 
Punting
  No. Yds Avg Long
Dunnachie 25 871 34.8 55
Totals 25 871 34.8 55

 
Punt Returns
  No. Yds Avg TD Long
Ryan Henry 11 68 6.2 0 16
Salas 5 57 11.4 0 32
Totals 16 125 7.8 0 32

 
Kick Returns
  No. Yds Avg TD Long
Taylor 21 531 25.3 0 48
Pollard 13 287 22.1 0 47
Pilares 7 156 22.3 0 32
Blount 4 80 20.0 0 29
Lolotai 2 19 9.5 0 13
Green 1 17 17.0 0 17
Stutzmann 1 16 16.0 0 16
Totals 48 1090 22.7 0 48

 
Tackles
  G UT AT Tot
Soares 8 27 32 59
Smith 8 40 17 57
Kiesel-Kauhane 8 33 15 48
Silva 8 26 17 43
Paredes 8 24 15 39
Tufaga 8 18 17 35
Bryant 8 19 14 33
Purcell 8 12 14 26
Davis 8 21 3 24
Torres 8 12 10 22
Heun 8 14 3 17
Satele 8 11 5 16
Fonoti 5 6 9 15
Savaiigaea 8 8 7 15
Hopkins 8 8 6 14
Falemalu 7 8 4 12
Lolotai 8 9 3 12
Brown 3 7 3 10
Ornellas 8 7 2 9
Clore 8 4 4 8
Walker 8 6 1 7
Wadsworth 8 4 2 6
Meatoga 6 4 2 6
Hanohano 8 3 2 5
Correa 8 2 2 4
Black 4 2 1 3
Rice 8 1 2 3
Enos 8 3 0 3
Ahmad 8 1 1 2
K. Estes 8 0 2 2
Gomes 5 1 0 1
Funaki 8 0 1 1
J. Estes 8 1 0 1
Henry 7 1 0 1
Alexander 4 1 0 1
Medeiros 5 1 0 1
Wright-Jackson 8 0 1 1
Bradley 6 1 0 1
Taylor 8 1 0 1
Salas 8 1 0 1
Totals 8 348 217 565

 

A dangerous dual-threat quarterback accompanied by a productive runner.

JOHN BYRNE / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
UH running back Alex Green lost his helmet on one of his 10 carries Saturday.

Sound familiar?

After spending an afternoon in Reno, Nev., tracking Nevada's prolific backfield combination, the Hawaii defense will have a similar challenge awaiting them back home this weekend.

Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick and running backs Vai Taua and Luke Lippincott powered the Wolf Pack to a win over the Warriors last Saturday in Reno.

This Saturday, the Warriors will contend with Utah State's duo of Diondre Borel and Robert Turbin to begin a stretch of four home games in a five-week span.

Borel, the Aggies' junior quarterback, enjoyed a breakout game against the Warriors in Utah State's win in Logan, Utah, last year, and trails only Kaepernick in total offense in the WAC this season. Turbin, a sophomore, enters the week as the league's second-leading rusher at 109 yards per game.

Still, where Kaepernick and Co. have Nevada atop the WAC standings, Utah State (2-6, 1-3 WAC) remains in the league's lower half while working through growing pains under first-year head coach Gary Andersen, losing three of their last four games by a total of 10 points.

The Warriors (2-6, 0-5), meanwhile, returned home yesterday with frustrations of their own after battling with Nevada only to suffer their sixth straight loss.

"I think we have good character on our team and every loss hurts, but there's nothing that's going to keep our team down," UH quarterback Bryant Moniz said.

"We take the losses hard, but we let them go and move on because if you just dwell on a loss, another team is going to come to town and kick our butt."

After being blown out in two of their previous three games, the Warriors saw some encouraging signs in the 31-21 loss to Nevada. But being more competitive didn't offer much consolation.

"Overall I thought we played pretty well offensively. It's just that we have to keep consistent," receiver Jon Medeiros said after catching nine passes for 92 yards. "We scored on the first two drives and after that we were pretty much dead until the fourth quarter."

Utah State can certainly relate.

The Aggies led 27-17 at halftime of their game at Fresno State on Saturday but were shut out in the second half and lost 31-27.

Borel rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown and completed 20 of 31 passes for 240 yards and a score. Turbin had 138 yards and the Aggies generated 503 yards in total offense.

Hawaii held Nevada to its lowest point total in WAC play and forced five punts to stay within striking distance for most of the game. But as has been the case during the losing streak, opportunity and execution didn't quite connect.

Two turnovers proved critical, as did Kaepernick's mastery of the spread option, slipping around the end for big gains when Taua and Lippincott weren't plowing for yardage.

"It's just a couple times where (Kaepernick) made plays himself and those are the ones that hurt us the most," safety Mana Silva said. "We had a great game plan coming in and we didn't stray from it. We just stuck to it and they just made a few more plays than we did."

 

Green hitting his stride

Alex Green's work load has kicked up lately. Whether the junior running back plays an even more prominent role will depend on how he performs without the ball.

Green carried the ball a season-high 10 times against Nevada, and his 70 yards were the most for a UH running back this season.

"I think the way the offense is, I get better as the game goes along," Green said. "The more carries I get the stronger I get as a runner, the more in rhythm I get."

While he displayed his ability as a runner, he continues to develop as a blocker in the backfield.

"I'm getting more confident. Coach (Brian Smith) is working with me hard to get my feet right and get to know the system," Green said.

"Pass blocking was one of my weaknesses in JUCO, so I was really working hard in the summer and fall camp and still working hard this season because blocking is a big part of being a running back in a spread offense."

 

The long way home

The Warriors' road trip was unexpectedly extended a bit.

The team left Reno after the game on Saturday night and was scheduled to arrive in Honolulu early yesterday morning.

But a mechanical problem with an inbound flight to Las Vegas meant the Warriors were delayed about 6 hours while waiting for their plane to arrive. They finally landed safely at home a little before 11:30 a.m.

Now that they're back, the Warriors will have some time to settle in at home for a change. Their upcoming games against both sets of Aggies, Utah State and New Mexico State, mark the first time Hawaii will have back-to-back home games this season.

 

FOOTBALL STATISTICS

University of Hawaii

Team Statistics
  Hawaii OPP
SCORING 172 263
Points Per Game 21.5 32.9
FIRST DOWNS 168 185
Rushing 40 98
Passing 117 79
Penalty 11 8
RUSHING YARDAGE 642 1,708
Yards gained rushing 794 1,867
Yards lost rushing 152 194
Rushing Attempts 165 344
Average Per Rush 3.9 5.0
Average Per Game 80.3 213.5
TDs Rushing 5 20
PASSING YARDAGE 2,816 1,694
Att-Comp-Int 355-215-12 221-141-5
Average Per Pass 7.9 7.7
Average Per Catch 13.1 12.0
Average Per Game 352.0 211.8
TDs Passing 16 14
TOTAL OFFENSE 3,458 3,402
Total Plays 520 565
Average Per Play 6.7 6.0
Average Per Game 432.3 425.3
KICK RETURNS: #-Yards 48-1,090 32-943
PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards 16-125 4-19
INT RETURNS: #-Yards 5-22 12-49
KICK RETURN AVERAGE 22.7 29.5
PUNT RETURN AVERAGE 7.8 4.8
INT RETURN AVERAGE 4.4 4.1
FUMBLES-LOST 21-13 22-9
PENALTIES-Yards 49-370 42-400
Average Per Game 46.3 50.0
PUNTS-Yards 25-871 28-1,188
Average Per Punt 34.8 42.4
Net punt average 33.3 36.5
TIME OF POSSESSION/Game 27:46 32:10
3RD-DOWN Conversions 41/89 47/103
3rd-Down Pct 46% 46%
4TH-DOWN Conversions 1/10 11/13
4th-Down Pct 10% 85%
SACKS BY-Yards 9-62 22-116
MISC YARDS 0 67
TOUCHDOWNS SCORED 21 34
FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS 8-11 9-12
ON-SIDE KICKS 2-3 0-0
RED-ZONE SCORES 20-33 61% 34-37 92%
RED-ZONE TDS 13-33 39% 25-37 68%
PAT-ATTEMPTS 18-19 95% 32-32 100%

Rushing
  G Att Net Avg TD Long
Wright-Jackson 8 33 193 5.8 1 45
Green 8 42 213 5.1 2 44
Alexander 4 37 103 2.8 0 23
Moniz 6 29 57 2.0 1 21
Dimude 3 7 40 5.7 0 7
Funaki 7 7 18 2.6 1 8
Rego 4 4 17 4.2 0 9
Pilares 7 1 13 13.0 0 13
Austin 1 1 0 0 0 0
Taylor 6 1 -3 -3.0 0 0
TEAM 7 3 -6 -2.0 0 0
Totals 6 145 524 3.6 5 45

 
Passing
  G Comp Att Int Yds TD Long
Alexander 4 98 150 4 1,433 9 73
Moniz 6 94 166 5 1,202 6 71  
Austin 1 22 36 3 174 1 30
TEAM 7 0 2 0 0 0 0
Funaki 7 1 1 0 7 0 7  
Totals 7 186 306 10 2442 13 73

 
Receiving
  G Rec Yds Avg TD Long
Salas 8 59 977 16.6 5 66
Pilares 8 49 465 9.5 2 32
Bradley 6 31 575 18.5 5 73
Taylor 8 20 256 12.8 2 71
Pollard 5 13 142 10.9 0 21
Medeiros 5 20 238 11.9 2 36
Wright-Jackson 7 9 65 7.2 0 18
Avery 5 6 64 10.7 0 16
Dimude 3 3 21 7.0 0 13
Green 8 3 1 0.3 0 4  
Blount 2 1 8 8.0 0 8
Funaki 7 1 4 4.0 0 4
Totals 7 186 2,442 13.1 13 73

 
Total Offense
  G Plays Rush Pass Tot Avg
Alexander 4 187 103 1,433 1,536 384.0
Moniz 6 195 57 1,202 1,259 209.8
Green 8 42 213 0 213 26.6
Wright-Jackson 8 33 190 0 190 23.8
Austin 1 37 0 174 174 174.0
Dimude 3 7 40 0 40 13.3
Funaki 8 8 18 7 25 3.1
Rego 5 4 17 0 17 3.4
Pilares 8 1 13 0 13 1.6
Taylor 8 1 -3 0 -3 -0.4
TEAM 7 5 -6 0 -6 -0.9
Totals 8 520 642 2,816 3,458 432.2

 
Scoring
  TD FG 1XP 2XP Tot
Enos 0 8 18 0 42
Salas 5 0 0 0 30
Bradley 5 0 0 0 30
Green 2 0 0 0 12
Medeiros 2 0 0 0 12
Taylor 2 0 0 0 12
Pilares 2 0 0 0 12
Wright-Jackson 1 0 0 0 6
Moniz 1 0 0 0 6
Funaki 1 0 0 0 6
TEAM 0 0 0 0 4
Totals 21 8 18 0 172

 
Punting
  No. Yds Avg Long
Dunnachie 25 871 34.8 55
Totals 25 871 34.8 55

 
Punt Returns
  No. Yds Avg TD Long
Ryan Henry 11 68 6.2 0 16
Salas 5 57 11.4 0 32
Totals 16 125 7.8 0 32

 
Kick Returns
  No. Yds Avg TD Long
Taylor 21 531 25.3 0 48
Pollard 13 287 22.1 0 47
Pilares 7 156 22.3 0 32
Blount 4 80 20.0 0 29
Lolotai 2 19 9.5 0 13
Green 1 17 17.0 0 17
Stutzmann 1 16 16.0 0 16
Totals 48 1090 22.7 0 48

 
Tackles
  G UT AT Tot
Soares 8 27 32 59
Smith 8 40 17 57
Kiesel-Kauhane 8 33 15 48
Silva 8 26 17 43
Paredes 8 24 15 39
Tufaga 8 18 17 35
Bryant 8 19 14 33
Purcell 8 12 14 26
Davis 8 21 3 24
Torres 8 12 10 22
Heun 8 14 3 17
Satele 8 11 5 16
Fonoti 5 6 9 15
Savaiigaea 8 8 7 15
Hopkins 8 8 6 14
Falemalu 7 8 4 12
Lolotai 8 9 3 12
Brown 3 7 3 10
Ornellas 8 7 2 9
Clore 8 4 4 8
Walker 8 6 1 7
Wadsworth 8 4 2 6
Meatoga 6 4 2 6
Hanohano 8 3 2 5
Correa 8 2 2 4
Black 4 2 1 3
Rice 8 1 2 3
Enos 8 3 0 3
Ahmad 8 1 1 2
K. Estes 8 0 2 2
Gomes 5 1 0 1
Funaki 8 0 1 1
J. Estes 8 1 0 1
Henry 7 1 0 1
Alexander 4 1 0 1
Medeiros 5 1 0 1
Wright-Jackson 8 0 1 1
Bradley 6 1 0 1
Taylor 8 1 0 1
Salas 8 1 0 1
Totals 8 348 217 565

 

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