By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Notre Dame’s Scott Cengia gets his 20-yard field goal
attempt past the outstretched arms of defensive back Al Hunter
of the University of Hawaii to give the Fighting Irish a 23-22
victory over the Rainbows on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.
The game-winning kick came with five seconds left. Holding
for Cengia on the kick was Hunter Smith.

---

Business as usual:
Irish rise to occasion,
UH falls

By Dave Reardon
Special to the Star-Bulletin

Notre Dame never really plays a road game. Its subway, Greyhound bus, rickshaw, and yes, jet airplane alumni, see to that. The college football team with the largest and most widely spread fan base in the free world never needs to feel it is in a totally hostile environment -- even a few thousand miles away from home at Aloha Stadium.

And why else would John Perles -- son of former Michigan State coach George Perles, who runs the Motor City Bowl -- come all the way here to shake hands with Notre Dame coach Bob Davie, hoping the Fighting Irish will consider playing in his game, even though they have five losses?

Notre Dame fans are all over the place. Let's put it this way -- it's a safe assumption that there is not a University of Hawaii football fan club in South Bend, Ind. But there is a Notre Dame club here.

So a good portion of the 35,177 turnstile crowd on Saturday did not look at the Fighting Irish's 23-22 victory as another Rainbow collapse, but more as another great Notre Dame rally to add to the history book.

And why not? This wasn't Joe Montana beating USC, but it was still the stuff legends are made of.

Make no mistake, it was very close to being a devastating loss for Davie, who had enough problems with a terrible 1-4 start to his first year as head coach.

"It's a long boat ride across the ocean," Davie quipped afterward, thinking of the possibilities if Scott Cengia hadn't hit the 20-yard field goal to win it with five seconds left.

"I could sense a bit of fear of losing rather than going out there to win it," Davie said. "We knew Hawaii would play its best game of the year. At halftime I told our players to play to win this game and don't play not to lose."

The positive roars were almost as loud as the disappointed expletives when Ron Powlus found Raki Nelson open across the middle, for what ended up a 47-yard gain with 1:30 left that all but sealed Hawaii's fate.

Although Powlus never reached the heights that his potential coming out of high school had him pegged for, the perfect pass he zipped to Nelson provided a glimpse.

Powlus acknowledged that Hawaii is a tough place -- despite the large number of Notre Dame fans -- and a tough team -- despite its record -- to play at and against.

"The whole trip was something of a distraction," Powlus said. "They took advantage of our lack of focus. But we felt fine. We were going to go down and score. We were never overly worried that we would score."

It wasn't the throw itself that was impressive, but the facts that Nelson was the third option (of course, the offensive line also deserves credit for giving him the time to have a third option) and that Powlus was able to make such a pass at the crucial time when he was erratic most the game.

Nelson was finally brought down at the Hawaii 9 by Chris Shinnick. The Irish correctly ran into the line three times, running down the clock and setting up Cengia's kick.

While the Notre Dame fans might have never had a doubt, Davie was worried plenty almost the entire game -- until the Irish got the ball back with 2:20 left.

"We've been in that position before and won," said Davie, whose team came from behind to win four games. "If you look at Hawaii's season, they haven't been successful in that situation."

As it has happened many times this year, the Rainbows played well in the middle, but sandwiched the solid play with disaster at the beginning and end.

When Allen Rossum intercepted Josh Skinner's pass and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, Davie "almost looked at it as a negative."

"I've seen things happen like that before at the beginning and they backfire on you," he said. "You get a certain letdown. And then our defense goes right back out on the field again. I think that might be a reason why our offense never really got into rhythm."

Except for the one play that really mattered.

And all those guys wearing the gold, blue and white No. 3 jerseys went home happy -- especially Ron Powlus.

Voices In The Crowd

"I thought it was a fanstastic game
from both sides. It's a tragedy that one of the
two teams had to lose.

"It was a heartbreaker for the Rainbows
for sure. It's not a victory in the win-loss column,
but it's surely a victory in their hearts.
The heart can do an awful lot in a one-to-one
situation. As a lifelong Notre Dame fan,
I'm very pro-Notre Dame, but they were
playing our Rainbows, so I was divided.
Let's say I'm a Notre Dame fan for
every game, except when they play
our Rainbows."

Jim Fleming
Athletic equipment sales rep from Waialae-Nui Ridge

---

Sports Notebook

UH Football Schedule

http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu