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Sports Notebook
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WARRIOR FOOTBALL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii's Davone Bess made a 13-yard touchdown catch in front of San Jose State safety Damaja Jones in the third quarter.
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Porlas makes his first play
SAN JOSE, Calif. » Hawaii defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville told Dane Porlas to be prepared to play free safety yesterday against San Jose State.
Even though he didn't quite believe Glanville, the freshman walk-on from San Diego -- who was a backup at strong safety until a few days ago -- made sure he was ready, and the result was a game-saving interception in UH's 45-38 win over the Spartans.
With 55 seconds left and the Spartans driving for a game-tying TD, Porlas picked off a stray pass by Adam Tafralis.
"We were in our base D, cover two," said Porlas, who returned the pick 22 yards. "I just reacted to the ball, the quarterback."
UH was then able to easily run out the clock because San Jose State had no timeouts left.
When Porlas replaced starter Landon Kafentzis to start the second half, it was his first significant action as a Warrior. He also had two tackles.
"I had no idea I was going to play. It just ended up that way, going in in the second half," Porlas said.
Glanville said with about 4 minutes left in the first half, "Let's put '30' in at free safety."
"We felt we needed someone to give us a spark," defensive backs coach Rich Miano said. "He ended up doing a nice job. He's one of those kids, a walk-on, he studies and it means a lot to him."
Tafralis blamed himself for the interception, but San Jose State coach Dick Tomey said it was more likely that a receiver made an error.
"We were just trying to throw a post and I think we got a route busted," Tomey said. "Hawaii did a good job on coverage, but that wasn't the play that made the difference in the game. In a game like that there are a lot of plays on both sides that make the difference one way or another."
Fanfare: The Spartan Stadium homecoming crowd announced at 18,129 included around 3,000 Hawaii fans, most of whom attended a pregame tailgate party.
"I give a lot of (credit) to the crowd," said freshman receiver Davone Bess, who is from nearby Oakland and had lots of family and friends in the stadium. "When we're at home we get a lot of intensity from the crowd. We were getting that here today."
Catching on again: For the second game in a row, Ryan Grice-Mullen, Chad Mock and Bess accounted for more than 100 yards receiving.
Grice-Mullen caught five passes for 125 yards, Mock grabbed 11 for 104 yards, and Bess had nine for 102 and two touchdowns.
"It's going to be exciting watching them get better and better," Warriors coach June Jones said. "They were unbelievable today."
Corner of Broadway: UH senior defensive backs Lamar Broadway and Turmarian Moreland started their first games at cornerback.
Broadway was in on 10 tackles and Moreland led the Warriors with 11. Moreland also forced a fumble and intercepted a pass for the second game in a row.
Broadway, who was recruited as a cornerback, was moved back there after three years as a sometime starter at safety.
"He made some good hits. He played smart, leadership," Miano said. "Having Lamar in there stabilized some things."
Short yardage: Neither team punted in the first half. ... The Warriors were called for two questionable pass interference penalties. ... San Jose State started the game with an onside kick, recovered by UH's Timo Paepule. ... Hawaii wore new white road uniform jerseys with black numbers. Their previous uniform shirts were white with silver numbers that were hard to see. ... Jones said there were no significant injuries that he was aware of after the game.