GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Jason Rivers pulled in a pass last night against Fresno State. The Warriors beat the Bulldogs thanks to a 28-point second quarter.
LaBoy helps
hammer FresnoWarrior Report: Back on track
Statistics, Turning Point & Coming Up
Warriors turned to the run
Bulldogs' futility against UH continues
Hawaii defensive line coach Vantz Singletary used some visual aids to inspire his players for last night's game with Fresno State.
"I brought a hammer to this game and a nail, I told them that we have to be that hammer, not the nail," Singletary said. "Every time we came off the field I grabbed the hammer and said this is what we have to do to them and they got the message."
The Warriors' defensive front disrupted the Fresno State offense and spurred the team to its 55-28 victory.
Defensive end Travis LaBoy rattled Fresno State quarterback Paul Pinegar, recording two sacks among his three tackles for losses and two more quarterback hurries. Even when he didn't make the play, he forced Pinegar up in the pocket allowing his teammates to get to the passer.
"They slid the line to him, they motioned the wing to his side to get extra protection... and he still got a couple of tackles for losses," Singletary said.
"We have unbeliveable ends, they come off the edge and all they want is the quarterback," defensive tackle Lance Samuseva said. "If he steps up the tackles got him."
After the game, Samuseva credited the scout team for preparing the starters for the game.
"The scout team gave us a helluva look," he said. "My hat's off to those guys. Without them I don't think we would have won this game."
Milestone for Chang: UH quarterback Tim Chang became the 24th player to surpass the 10,000-yard mark in passing with a 13-yard completion to West Keliikipi on the Warriors' second possession of the game.
Chang is the third quarterback to reach the milestone this season, following Louisiana Tech's Luke McCown and Central Florida's Ryan Schneider into the club.
Chang, Hawaii's all-time passing leader, finished with game with 353 yards and pushed his career total to 10,274. The junior needs 4,757 yards to pass Ty Detmer's NCAA record of 15,031 yards.
Chang also ranks third in WAC history, and needs 1,151 to pass San Diego State's Todd Santos (11,425) for second place.
Chang has 1,659 yards this season, 3,529 behind Detmer's single-season mark of 5,188.
Welcome back: In his return from a two-game suspension, Hawaii slotback Chad Owens made an immediate impact for the Warriors' offense.
"I was ready to be back and all it took was those first couple of passes and I was back in it," Owens said.
The junior caught two passes for 22 yards on Hawaii's opening possession of the game, which ended with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Gerald Welch.
Owens got into the end zone himself for the go-ahead touchdown, a 9-yard strike from Chang. The score sparked a run of 28 unanswered points.
Owens scored again with 9:08 left in the third quarter to extend the lead to 45-14 and finished with seven receptions for 62 yards.
Welch led the Warriors with nine catches for 115 yards.
"Finally we played our first game of 60 minutes of football," Welch said. "The other games we had some letdowns, but today I think we played a full 60 minutes."
Special stuff: Hawaii had by far its best game on special teams.
In addition to the blocked field goal by Nkeruwem "Tony" Akpan, there were several other big plays, including John West's 48-yard kickoff return to start the game and Chad Kapanui's 43-yard fake-punt TD pass to David Gilmore to complete the scoring.
Gary Wright was involved in two big special teams plays -- in the first half, he tipped a 55-yard punt by Kurt Milne out of the Fresno State end zone so that T.J. Moe could down it at the 1.
After the break, he recovered a Fresno State fumble on a punt.
"We went out and played a complete game for the first time this year," Wright said. "Offense, defense and special teams.
"If we play like this every week, no one should be able to beat us."
Holding the line: It was the big question mark heading into the season, and position coach Mike Cavanaugh said last night he still has his share of questions. But Hawaii's offensive line seems to have patched itself together well enough to help keep Chang's jersey clean and Hawaii moving.
This, despite the fact that UH has had so many lineups this season -- "a lot," Cavanaugh said -- the coach has to stop to count them up.
"The first game," he said, "we really had two different lineups."
But UH seems to have found its squad, with Tala Esera, Samson Satele, Derek Faavi, Uriah Moenoa and Brandon Eaton in the lineup. Hawaii gave up just one sack last night, while its offense chalked up 549 total yards.
"I thought there was some good execution," Cavanaugh said. "Obviously there's some things we've got to improve on."
Cavanaugh is not satisfied yet.
"There's some good," he said. "But we're not consistent yet."
Frustrated Fresno: Several of the Fresno players were dejected after losing to Hawaii for a third straight year.
"It hurts really bad," Bulldogs senior linebacker Marc Dailey said. "We came here in 2001 and had the game won (before losing) and then last year we lost control in the final minutes. This year, we gave up that huge second quarter. We just never did the job."
Kicker Brett Visintainer called it a tough loss against the team that they always circle on their schedule.
"It was a must-win for them, but we've got a bunch of games left and have a good chance to win them," he said.
Visintainer said he got plenty of leg on the ball when Akpan blocked his 37-yard field-goal attempt.
"He must have really got up there," Visintainer said. "There's not much more I could have done. Maybe it was a little bit low or maybe the offensive line didn't penetrate enough."
Polynesian connection: Fresno guard Kawika Edwards and defensive tackle Fai Satele have Hawaii connections.
Edwards is the son of Lionel Edwards, a native Hawaiian who was raised and played high school football in Honolulu.
Satele is Samoan and is friends with Hawaii defensive back Brown Faavae from the Los Angeles area. He is also a second cousin of Hawaii linebacker Pati Mailo, who was hurt during the UNLV game.
"A lot of fans here give us a hard time, but the Polynesians treat me with respect and say 'good job,' " Satele said.
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[ TURTLE BAY CHAMPIONSHIP ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chi Chi Rodriguez modeled a bikini with the help of Jan Stephenson prior to yesterday's second round of the Turtle Bay Championship. Rodriguez made a bet that if Stephenson did not play well he would swim back to the mainland.
Turtle Bay course
punishes Stephenson
If Jan Stephenson thought the second tour of duty of the Turtle Bay Resort golf course would be easier than the first, she was wrong.
Embroiled in a nationwide controversy over her remarks that Asians were killing the LPGA Tour, Stephenson teed it up yesterday at the $1.5 million Turtle Bay Championship and struggled from the outset. She finished with a second-round 84 for a two-day total of 164. She trails leader Tom Kite by a hefty 26 shots. Only Bobby Mitchell at 165 has a worse score.
"I definitely chose a difficult course to play," said Stephenson, who issued an apology yesterday for her remarks that will appear in the November issue of Golf Magazine. "It's very long and is difficult, especially in these conditions."
Stephenson issued a statement yesterday that backed her comments on Friday that she didn't intend her remarks to be taken as a racial slur. The controversial Australian was roundly criticized by her peers on Friday. Top player Annika Sorenstam called her observations "pathetic."
"By no means did I intend to hurt anyone, nor were the statements racially motivated," Stephenson said in her statement. "I clearly understand how these comments could be taken as racial comments and for that I am truly sorry."
Stephenson also caused a stir by saying that being the first woman to play in an official senior event was a publicity stunt to help the women's senior tour. She has been generally well-received by the senior circuit this week, although most agree this was too stern a test.
"This is a difficult course for even us," first-day leader Dana Quigley said. "It's long and in these conditions, it's even more difficult. I wish her the best, but this is a tough place to play."
Scores soar: The average score for yesterday's second round was a nasty 74.864. Second-round leader Tom Kite and Lon Hinkle shot 67s yesterday. The only other golfer to break 70 was John Schroeder at 69.
Hinkle opened with a 79 on Friday. His 5-under effort yesterday allowed him to move up 51 spots on the leaderboard to a tie for 20th. But he and Kite were the rare exceptions as only 20 golfers shot par or better yesterday. There were 61 rounds over par, with eight golfers shooting 80 or higher.
"If you don't hit the ball well in the wind, you can hang a high number," said Rex Caldwell, whose 72 yesterday was still good enough to be alone in second at 4 under for the tourney, two shots off Kite's pace. "Tom's 67 was an incredible round today. Golf doesn't get any tougher than this."
The most difficult hole after two rounds is the par-3 fourth. The 210-yard hole has yielded only three birdies for a scoring average of 3.401. Surprisingly, Bob Murphy had a hole-in-one at the lengthy par-3. Graham Marsh also had a hole-in-one on the par-3 eighth. Those are the first two holes-in-one since the Champions Tour event moved to Turtle Bay in 2001.
The easiest hole is the par-5 12th with a scoring average of 4.907. There have been 36 birdies and only 15 bogeys through two rounds.
Rodriguez gone: Veteran golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez withdrew from the tournament yesterday after shooting a 75. He opened with an 80 on Friday for a two-day total of 155. He left because of an injury.
Rodriguez was tied for 67th with Fred Gibson when he withdrew. He trailed Kite by 17 shots. Rodriguez is 28th on the all-time PGA and Champions Tour money list with $7.6 million in career earnings.
