Hawaii vs La Tech Newspaper Wrap-Ups

Stephen Tsai writes about Colt's good night and Reagan Mauia's great night.

"When he blocks, defenses don't like to blitz anymore," Brenann said. "He is so physical. You know on defense how they have a rover, a guy who goes around? He's our rover, man. He knocks blitzers and guys coming up the field. It just kills defenses.

"I don't get to hear his blocks," Brennan added. "But after I throw the ball, I look around and see the guys on the ground."

Most remarkable is Mauia also should have been on sick leave. He has a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee, a torn meniscus in his right knee, and sprains in both shoulder joints.

"It's God," Mauia said. "He gave me the strength to keep playing and do what I love to do. He lets me play for my family, my son back home (in California), my father. I do it for everybody. And, of course, I like to help out Colt."

He's amazing! He's The Juggernaut! He can't be stopped!

Mauia's loudest cheerleader was Ilaoa.

"I activated the bulldog," Ilaoa said. "I gave the bulldog a chance to strut his stuff."

Ilaoa's constant advice was to protect his knees.

"I told him they were going for his lumber," Ilaoa recalled. "I kept yelling, 'Pick up your lumber.' They were trying to cut him down. They still couldn't bring him down. His swagger meter is too loose."

The "bulldog"? Nooooo!!! The Juggernaut! In any case, what a great game by Reagan!

Jason Kaneshiro writes about Reagan getting his chance to run it.

"He does some unbelievable things out there and it's so fun to watch a guy that big running," Brennan said. "Everyone talks about Nate, but I think it's scarier to watch Reagan because he's that much bigger and still quick."

The senior also helped set up a field goal to end the first half that sent UH into the break leading 26-10.

The Warriors faced third and 20 after an apparent touchdown pass was wiped out due to a penalty. With just 11 seconds left, Jones called on Mauia, who took the handoff and rumbled 22 yards through a hole on the left side of the line and was brought down at the LaTech 7 with 3 seconds showing.

"When Colt came into the huddle he said, 'This is going to be a big play for us,' so I thought it was going to be a pass," Mauia said. "So when he called 'Tampa Left' I was like, 'no way.' I was juiced up, so I was ready for it.

Going back to Stephen Tsai's article, what motivation by Jeff Reinebold gave the d-line!

Reinebold, who used to coach for Louisiana Tech, met his former recruit, Bulldog left guard David Accardo, during warmups. Reinebold relayed the discussion to his players before the game.

"They were talking a lot of trash about us, how they were going to kill us, and beat us up like they did last year," UH safety Leonard Peters said "Once you call one of us out, you're taking on the family. They called out (nose tackle) Mike (Lafaele). They were going to dominate him."

Lafaele said: "It was the left guard. That was the guy Reinebold recruited. He was talking smack about me."

But after the game, Lafaele approached Accardo.

"He said, 'It wasn't me,' " Lafaele said. "He got me hyped before the game. Everybody was hyped with what that dude said."

Asked about the story, Reinebold said: "Was the speech true? Of course, it was true. I don't tell stories. He said he was going to kick (Lafaele's) butt. Here's the deal: I love the kid for being that confident and saying, 'I'm going after you guys.' "

Poor David Accardo! He got punk'd!

Dave Reardon's wrap-up discusses how the Warriors adjusted after a slow start.

"Colt had another great game," UH coach June Jones said, after the Warriors added 618 yards to their nation-leading total. "(LaTech) did a whole lot of things that we didn't practice against."

But the Warriors adjusted, to say the least, with eight scores in a row while the Hawaii defense muzzled the Bulldogs.

...

It was just the second touchdown of the season for Mock, the most unsung of the Warriors' regular receivers. He said despite going most of the first half without a touchdown pass, the offense knew it would just be a matter of time before it got on track.

"There wasn't any panic in the huddle," Mock said. "One snap and clear, we gotta get there. We know what we can do, we just gotta go out there and do it."

Reardon also has a great quote from Adam Leonard as UH plays these final games.

"We're getting to the point where we can play the same way each down," said linebacker Adam Leonard, who led UH with six tackles. "They came out fired up, they wanted to pull off a big upset. We know every team that comes in the next few weeks is going to play like that."

San Jose State, after watching them almost beat Boise yesterday, will be a tough opponent.

But back to La Tech, Ferd Lewis writes about the vengeance factor in last night's game.

For the turnaround from one season to the next was 76 points worth, second largest in school history. Only a 91-point swing from a 39-7 loss to Texas-El Paso in 2000 to a 66-7 win over the Miners in 2001 was steeper.

"We remembered what they did to us up there last year," said defensive end Ikaika Alama-Francis.

The Warriors lost by bigger scores in their 5-7 season of 2005, but none came with the embarrassing sting of the one-sided night in Ruston.

"It was embarrassing to even look at the film again," said assistant coach Rich Miano. "Nobody kicked our (butts) as physically. We had to start showing this year's tapes."

If last year's pummeling was a season lowpoint for the defense, then this was high point illustrating the width of the turnaround. From giving up 327 yards rushing last year, the Warriors whittled it down to 135.

Nick Abramo has some quotes from La Tech coaches and players regarding the turnaround.

"College football is cyclical," LaTech coach Jack Bicknell said. "For a couple of years, we had a lot of returning guys. This year, we're young.

"I looked at the tape of last year's game and I thought, 'How did we do that?' In my opinion, that quarterback (UH's Colt Brennan) is a totally different player who's just amazing right now. They've learned their lessons, they've gained confidence and they've become dangerous."

Leila Wai writes about Jacob Patek coming back into the game after getting a split lip and a bunch of stitches.

"I'm alright," Patek said. "I was just trying to make a tackle and I slid down and the guy kicked me with his feet."

He received 17 stitches, and "was back out within 15 minutes," he said. "At first I didn't know how bad my lip was, until I got a look at it and it was split in two. It's all good, but it hurts a little right now. The Novocain is wearing off."

The stitches curled from the top of his upper lip to the inside of his mouth. Blood that seeped from the stitches dotted his lower lip after the game. Tomorrow he will undergo plastic surgery to fix the gash.

"It was gross, man," free safety Leonard Peters said. "I thought he was done for the game. It shows how much he wants to play. It was very bloody. I thought he broke his teeth or something. The blood was coming from everywhere. By that time we were up a little bit and had a safety who could come in, but it showed how much he wants to play. He's a tough kid."

That dude's a true Warrior!

Stacy Kaneshiro, Leila Wai and Ferd Lewis write about Dan Kelly's struggles last night.

"It was just a lack of technique tonight," Kelly said. "I just have to pick it up Monday. I can't let this bug me anymore. It's done, it's finished."

Punter Kurt Milne took over the kicking duties following Kelly's third out-of-bounds kickoff. It was Milne's only action because the Warriors didn't attempt a single punt.

"It was nice," Milne said. "I actually felt like I did something."

Hawai'i graduate assistant Dennis McKnight, who coaches the kickoff teams, said Kelly's job isn't in danger.

"Dan was over-striding, kind of like a guy in golf," McKnight said. "He was pulling the ball left. June (Jones, UH head coach) said he wanted somebody else to kick it and we did.

"We just told Dan, 'Relax, don't worry about it.' He's still the guy. We love you, but during the game we had to go with someone else. Sometimes kickers are people who get a little mental.

He'll be back and better than ever!

And finally, the Star-Bulletin Notebook highlights the two Texas corners, who both had interceptions last night.

"I was due for an interception," Newberry said. "I hadn't had one in three games, and he had to step up and make a play. We were talking all week saying we were going to make big plays this week."

After UH opened up a 33-10 lead on the opening drive of the second half, Lewis picked off a pass from Zac Champion and returned it 33 yards down the sideline to the LaTech 19. The offense capitalized with a touchdown pass from Colt Brennan to Davone Bess on the next play.

"As a defense we didn't have any turnovers in the first half and we knew we had to get some in the second half," Lewis said.

I like the attitude of the defense! GO WARRIORS!!!!