Hawaii vs Purdue Newspaper Wrap-Ups

Stephen Tsai's wrap-up captures the celebratory mood.

In a finish that will eventually be retold as a sweet-dreams bedtime story, the 25th-ranked University of Hawai'i football team willed a 42-35 victory from Purdue last night at Aloha Stadium.

Before 44,298 — the largest home crowd since the 2005 season opener — the Warriors surged from an eight-point deficit with six minutes remaining to win their ninth in a row.

Even the Mayor was celebrating.

"What an absolutely fabulous victory," Mayor Mufi Hannemann gushed in the post-game celebration. "I'm so proud of them. They're Hawai'i's team. They're Polynesia's team."

The article closes with a great quote from coach Jeff Reinebold, as well as Hannemann again.

"I'm so proud of these kids," said defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold, who was raised in Indiana. Two of his children attend Purdue.

"People have no idea about the differences between that place and this place in terms of facilities, and money, and athletes, even," Reinebold added. "But they don't have what we have: as great a love for each other."

After the game, the Mayor agreed it was fortunate he wasn't running against Brennan.

"That's for sure," Hannemann said. "Or Nasti (Ilaoa) or anyone else on this team."

Dave Reardon's wrap-up has some quotes from Leonard Peters and June Jones regarding the big crowd last night.

"The crowd won it for us," safety Leonard Peters said, citing several situations where the Boilermakers weren't on the same page because of the noise.

"I'm sure the crowd got their money's worth," Jones said. "They were a huge difference in the game."

Kalani Takase and Ferd Lewis talk to Purdue QB Curtis Painter about the crowd.

"It was a loud crowd," said Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter. "I think it was a little louder than we expected. We came in and we were going on a snap count. We had to change that up, it was getting pretty loud and the line was having trouble hearing me on the snap count."

Davone Bess felt the crowd played a big factor.

"That 12th man, they play such a huge role in games like this. they're so loud, the environment is real hostile and I believe that had a lot to do with Purdue being shaken up," said Bess.

Painter said he didn't feel it was a factor in his turnovers. "Bad throws, bad reads," he said.

UH defensive linemen Ikaika Alama-Francis said otherwise.

"Without these fans, I don't think we could have pulled this off."

Takase and Lewis also write that the UH O-line did a great job in containing Purdue DE Anthony Spencer.

Purdue defensive end Anthony Spencer came into the game leading the country in tackles for losses with 26.5, including 10.5 sacks. Last night he got zero.

"They played a really good game," he said. "They had a good game plan coming in. They had little combination blocks, one-on-one blocks every once in a while, but they did a really good job."

...

"Well, he's a great player," offensive line coach Dennis McKnight said of Spencer.

Warriors' left tackle Tala Esera was matched up with Spencer most of the night.

Esera, who is 6-foot-4 and 308 pounds, echoed McKnight's thoughts.

"He was, by far, the toughest guy to block this year," he said. "He has an extremely good pass rush; he's really strong, he's a real good playmaker and I was trying my hardest to block him."

Tala probably upped his draft status a couple more notches!

Tom Kubat of BoilerStation.com talks to Spencer, who had more nice things to say about the Warriors.

"We played pretty well until the end of the game, when it mattered the most," Purdue defensive end Anthony Spencer said. "When the game was on the line we really didn't get the job done.

"They're a good offense. They have really good, aggressive wide receivers, they're quarterback is really good and their running back had a good game tonight. But we could have played better."

Other Purdue players weren't so willingly generous, but some were.

While some Boilermakers grudgingly gave the Warriors credit, linebacker Dan Bick said the Hawaii offense was as good as advertised.

"Yes it is," he said. "It's defendable but it's a good offense, very well run and coordinated. They run that shovel pass very well. They'd get us to drop into coverage and throw it to a big back who could take on a lot of tacklers. That hurt us tonight.

"The game was back and forth. We wanted this game. We fought hard but we didn't end up on top. Congratulations to them."

Kudos to Bick and Spencer.

Going back to Reardon's wrap-up, Colt Brennan, who broke a couple of school records last night, praised his teammates.

In the first quarter, Brennan broke the school records for single-season total offense and passing yards set by Tim Chang in 2002. But he was more interested in talking about how the team came back from adversity in the fourth quarter.

"Camaraderie, character," Brennan said. "And no negativity. Guys were stepping up to make plays and not worrying about the bad things. It shows what type of team we have."

Stacy Kaneshiro talks to Ryan Grice-Mullins and Nate Ilaoa about getting the win.

"This one showed our heart and the kind of ball we play on this island," Grice-Mullins said. "Last couple years, when we got down, it was over. It ain't like that this year. We know we're going to win. We deserve to win."

"You never want a game where you'll be tested, but it's good to know that you can look back on the film and that you can be in dog fights, fight through adversity," Ilaoa added. "Unfortunately, I'm the one fumbling, but we were able to step up as a unit."

Ferd Lewis has quotes from Leonard Peters and Davone Bess on pulling out a close one.

"You couldn't have it any better than this," said sixth-year senior defensive back Leonard Peters. "I mean, I'd rather have it this way, where we proved what we were all about than another blowout."

...

"This is a lot sweeter than just another blowout because it tests you," Bess said. "It tests your character, your maturity and your leadership. That's what this one did."

Leila Wai writes about Blaze Soares' pivotal sack to set up Gerard Lewis' pivotal interception.

But with the game tied at 35 and the Boilermakers driving down the field, linebacker Blaze Soares sacked Painter at the Purdue 27-yard line.

"I came off the end and Solomon (Elimimian) got the back to chase him, so it opened the window for me," said Soares, who recorded his second sack of the season. "It was all Solomon."

On the next play, Lewis picked off Painter's pass, giving Hawai'i's offense a chance to take the lead back, which it did on a Colt Brennan touchdown pass to Ian Sample.

"We needed a big play. We knew we needed a turnover to win the game," Lewis said. "I was back in coverage and he tried to throw it to another dude and I ran over there and picked the ball off."

Jason Kaneshiro writes about Ian Sample's game-winning touchdown catch.

"I owe it to the linemen and Colt, he saw the window, double-clutched it then threw it," Sample said. "The linemen blocked and Rivers had the best block of the year. For me it was, 'catch the ball, see the end zone and get to it.'

"It's designed to go up the middle, but the linemen were all just pushing (the Purdue defenders) so far to the right that I kept it going. It was a piece of cake after that."

It was just Sample's third catch of the game and he finished with 43 yards for the night. But with the game tied at 35 and the clock winding down, Hawaii head coach June Jones called for the screen --normally a staple of the UH attack -- and it popped open for the Warriors.

"We hadn't run it all game so it was a great play-call by Coach Jones," Brennan said. "A huge play-call.

Nick Abramo talks to Purdue coach Joe Tiller.

"We forced the ball early in the game and we forced it at the end and I thought that was the difference," Tiller said. "This team (Hawaii) isn't leading the nation in scoring by accident. The problem with playing a team that is so explosive is that you have to match them and sometimes you have to press and when you do that, invariably things go wrong.

...

"They have that type of offense where we're looking for guys to make the big plays. We would be stupid to think they're not going to throw the ball all the way up the field. After all, they run that run-and-shoot, something, something, something."

Huh?

The Star-Bulletin's Notebook has the story on how Dan Kelly's 52-yard field goal came to be.

Officials checked the video replay to see if a Brennan incomplete pass was a fumble instead, which gave June Jones time to change his mind after having sent out his punt team on fourth and 8 from the Purdue 35.

Instead, Jones called back the punt team, and Dan Kelly hit a field goal to make it 20-14 with 4:48 left in the third quarter.

"Coach (Jerry) Glanville kind of coerced Coach Jones to kick a field goal," Kelly said. "I looked at Coach Glanville, Glanville looked at me and I told him I could hit it. And he said, 'I know.'

"And then he went to Coach Jones and said 'kick a field goal.' "

The 52-yarder was Kelly's career high.

That was a great kick. Dan Kelly needed that kick. And UH needed this win. Bring on the Beavers!

GO WARRIORS!!!!