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Sidelines
Kalani Simpson
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It almost happened this time
NOW that's a tropical depression. That was some weird, wild stuff.
It was a Gwen Stefani:
That (blank) is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
"Twice tonight," moaned a man in the stands as the final 2-minutes-plus ticked away. "Twice!"
"Ups and downs," Boise State defensive lineman Alex Guerrero said, shaking his head as he walked off the field, a tiny grin barely tugging at the edges of his lips. "Ups and downs."
The rain fell. Steady. Steady, like the drumbeat of the people screaming, as they pounded on the metal fence that rings Aloha Stadium's front row. Everyone was wet, literally soaking in the excitement. The rain fell. This was it. It felt great.
Lono Manners hit that guy so hard the sky opened. The John Tesh music was actually intimidating (you know, in a "Jurassic Park" water ride at Universal Studios kind of way). Reigning Western Athletic Conference offensive player of the year Jared Zabransky was playing as if he might have a kind of outside shot at making honorable-mention OIA Red East.
(This was definitely not the same guy who went on that 400-meter dash past Leonard Peters last year, even before he spent the early third quarter bent over in apparent agony.)
Boise State's Derek Schouman dropped a triple-pass trick play that would have been good for big yardage, possibly more.
It was happening. This was it.
Colt Brennan was frustrating the Bronco blitz, side-stepping, scrambling, escaping even when they were so close he could feel their breath on the back of his neck.
Davone Bess bailed him out with leaping dives, converting throw-aways into miraculous first and 10s.
"This is something me and him practice," Bess would say, " ... just read each other and stay on the same page."
He's a good quarterback, that Colt Brennan.
Good, but disgusting.
He, um, "ejected" his pre-game meal through his face mask twice in the first half, the second time spiking the ball to stop the clock to do so. Now this was poise under pressure. This would be something Joe Montana would do, if Joe Montana ever had the sudden urge to lose his lunch.
On the very next play he again found Bess, who dove over the goal line to make it 20-7, UH. Believe it.
It was happening.
But then Boise, itself again. Zabransky, awakening thanks to injury. A drive, then another. A punt returned for a touchdown. The punter, running free.
A blocked kick for a score.
Another.
That (blank) was bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
There's a reason these guys are kings. Boise won this game for no other reason than that's what it does.
"There was no panic," coach Dan Hawkins would say.
This one was merely the craziest of them all. The double thump, sealing it, stealing it away. The man in white running, the sickening deja vu. The clock ticking.
The rain falling.
The stadium sat stunned, soaked, silent, wet.
