UH vs Navy Wrap-Ups

Warriors have shot at Hawai‘i Bowl after fourth win in row, by Stephen Tsai

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."

Bowl bid within Warriors' grasp, by Jason Kaneshiro

"I knew I got the sack and I just blacked out," Soares said of the last of his game-high 12 tackles. "The game's on the line and you make a big play and the adrenaline's rushing and everything goes silent, but you see everybody just raging."

"I was yelling so loud I'm surprised I didn't lose my voice," Moniz said. "It's something I'll remember forever. The crowd was so loud. I hope to hear that sound next week."

UH's Mighty Mo excels, by Brian McInnis

"Mo leads the team every day," said Rolovich, the Hawaii quarterbacks coach. "They love him. They love who Bryant Moniz is. I don't think it was something unexpected tonight. They know what they're going to get from him. He fills them up. These guys really love that guy. I think the fans do too. I know I do. He's a hell of a quarterback."

Moniz in comfort zone as leader of UH offense, by Kalani Takase

Bryant Moniz may give off a pleasant friendliness upon first glance, but don't be fooled, the sophomore quarterback has a killer instinct.

"STK ... shoot to kill," said Moniz to a passing Shane Austin after last night's 24-17 win over Navy at Aloha Stadium.

"That's kind of our motto between the quarterbacks," said Moniz, who passed for 366 yards and three touchdowns without an interception to keep the Warriors' bowl hopes alive.

"He's picked things up a lot quicker than I did, but I don't believe that it's because I'm any dumber than he is or he's smarter than I am, but because he's put the effort in way more than I did," Rolovich said. "Me, as a player, I didn't (put in the effort), and I was lucky to get my second chance. Mo came in and has put forth his best effort ever since he's got here and that's the reason why he is where he is."

Takase also has a bunch of news and notes about the largest crowd of the year, Military Night, the third quarter and Kealoha Pilares:

"It felt awesome. This whole time I've been at wideout, I haven't been myself." Pilares said. "I'm really proud of the fact that I just kept my head in it, because it can be easy to get discouraged, but this week coach talked about how good things will happen if I just keep playing and I just really started believing that and I knew that my time would come and I'm glad it came tonight and that I was able to help my team win."

Short snaps: UH vs. Navy, from the Star-Bulletin has news and notes about the crowd, Navy slotback Aaron Santiago, Jovonte Taylor's kick return, and Blaze Soares giving props to the scout team:

"I have to thank our scout players," Soares said. "They simulated their offense just like how we saw it in the game. It was an unbelievable thing. They don't really get credit, but if it wasn't for them making us be responsible for our technique, we wouldn't have gotten this win."

Bitter loss for Navy, by Paul Honda

Navy (8-4) already had a berth in the Texas Bowl locked up, but was surprised in more ways than one. UH's defense, playing smart and disciplined, allowed only two runs of more than 16 yards, including a 53-yard midline keeper by the elusive Dobbs on the final play of the first quarter. But Hawaii's punishing, swarming defense took a toll.

"They were maybe like Temple or Delaware," Dobbs said of UH's defense. Temple ended Navy's five-game win streak four weeks ago.

"Hawaii's a hard-hitting team. After the pitch, I definitely felt the hits. I know I'll feel it tomorrow," he said.

Niumatalolo falls short in return, by Stacy Kaneshiro

"Very emotional game," Niumatalolo continued. "To come back here to the stadium, it was different for me. I love these kids that I coach. Our guys on our team, I love them. It's unfortunate we came up short. I give Hawai'i all the credit in the world."

Cool quote from Ken's son, Va'a

"It's a lot louder than I thought it would be," he said. "Inside the stadium, it was as loud as Notre Dame and Ohio State. It got pretty loud. I was impressed."

Warriors holding on to bowl hopes by holding on to the ball, by Ferd Lewis

What the Mids have done to their opponents in an 8-4 season UH did unto them with its own superb time-consuming ball control and a save-the-day defense for a fourth consecutive victory.

"That was kind of our plan, just take their game strategy and flip it on them; try and keep their offense off the field," said UH quarterback Bryant Moniz, who accomplished it blending a monopolistic passing game and a change-of-pace running attack.

Warriors defense caused Navy to run out of options, by Dave Reardon

BUT IT also seemed a given that Navy's spread option would hurt the Warriors and hurt them bad. We'd seen too many long marches by other teams with lesser running games. Heck, even Washington State ran the ball on UH.

That, however, was in September. The rookies on the UH defense aren't rookies anymore. After last night, we can officially say the Warriors defense has arrived. And in grand style; the Warriors stymied the Midshipmen.