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Monday, October 16, 2000
Some of the most avid connoisseurs of good defensive line play see it right up close. They are linebackers, and they enjoy a good show. UH defensive line made
it possible for linebackers
to tee off on SMU
Wound-up Warriors
By Dave Reardon
Star-BulletinThe 'backers love it when they can hit a hole unimpeded -- and the running back in it -- due to the successful grunt work of the guys up front.
That was the case often in Hawaii's 30-15 victory over Southern Methodist on Saturday.
Linebackers Robert Kemfort (14 tackles) and Pisa Tinoisamoa (10, including three sacks) got credit for the most stops, but the line did a lot to make it possible.
"The front four basically kicked butt," said Anthony Smith, another linebacker. "They got off the ball and made lots of big plays. And when they keep those offensive linemen off us it helps our vision and ability to make plays. When the front four does a job, it's all good."
Tinoisamoa, the highly touted sophomore, was also gracious to those who helped cater his coming out party.
"Those big offensive linemen are after us, but our defensive linemen slowed them down," he said. "It was a tremendous job by the defensive line. I can't do my job unless they do theirs."
Tinoisamoa had already shown his appreciation the best way possible; his fourth-quarter, fumble-causing hit on Mustang quarterback David Page not only preserved UH's first victory, it also gave left end Chris Brown a rare touchdown opportunity.
Brown picked up the ball at the Southern Methodist 8-yard line and was downed at the 1 -- or so said the officials.
"I knew I was over that line," Brown said later, smiling.
It would have been Brown's first touchdown since he played fullback at Damien Memorial High School several years ago.
Instead, an old Interscholastic League of Honolulu rival from St. Louis School, Timmy Chang, ran it in the next play, icing the game.
Brown said it didn't really matter who scored.
"This is our reward, a happy locker room," Brown said. "We worked so hard every single game. This is the greatest feeling."
Several defensive linemen played through substantial pain.
Starting left tackle Mike Iosua (stinger), his back-up Doug Sims (sprained knee), and right tackle Lui Fuga (dislocated shoulder) all -- like Fuga's shoulder -- came out but went back in.
"It takes a lot of guts to do what these guys did," defensive line coach Vantz Singletary said. "They have an incredible amount of mental toughness."
Singletary also praised the play of tackles Miles Garner and Lance Samuseva. He also gave high marks to Houston Ala, who has become kind of a utility lineman.
"He started off as a defensive end for us, but he's such a weapon we have to find ways to get him in the game," Singletary said of the true freshman from Kamehameha.
Ala was in on only three tackles, but that's not the true measure of what he provided his team.
Just ask any linebacker.
Conference standings
Overall Conference W L T PCT. W L T PCT. PF PA Texas-El Paso 5 2 0 .714 4 0 0 1.000 163 64 Texas Christian 5 0 0 1.000 2 0 0 1.000 82 31 Fresno St. 3 2 0 .600 2 0 0 1.000 85 45 San Jose St. 4 3 0 .571 2 1 0 .667 94 73 Tulsa 3 4 0 .429 2 1 0 .667 54 70 Hawaii 1 4 0 .200 1 3 0 .250 72 119 Nevada 1 5 0 .167 0 2 0 .000 31 99 Rice 1 5 0 .167 0 3 0 .000 56 79 Southern Methodist 1 6 0 .143 0 3 0 .000 45 102 Last week's results
New Mexico St. 42, Tulsa 28
Texas-El Paso 47, San Jose St. 30
Fresno St. 58, Nevada 21
Hawaii 30, Southern Methodist 15
Coming up Saturday
Hawaii at Rice
San Jose St. at Nevada
TCU at Tulsa
Fresno St. at UTEP
Season statistics
TEAM
Hawaii Opp FIRST DOWNS 90 99 Rushing 17 52 Passing 67 34 Penalty 6 13 RUSHING YARDAGE 305 953 Yards gained rushing 420 1071 Yards lost rushing 115 118 Rushing Attempts 96 254 Average Per Rush 3.2 3.8 Average Per Game 61.0 190.6 TD’s Rushing 1 10 PASSING YARDAGE 1471 1026 Att-Comp-Int 241-115-7 127-69-3 Average Per Pass 6.1 6.9 Average Per Catch 12.8 12.8 Average Per Game 294.2 176.2 TDs Passing 8 6 TOTAL OFFENSE 1776 1834 Total Plays 337 381 Average Per Play 5.3 4.8 Average Per Game 355.2 366.8 KICK RETURNS No.-Yards 22-390 13-257 PUNT RETURNS No.-Yards 16-123 13-123 INT RETURNS No.-Yards 3-38 7-90 FUMBLES-LOST 15-7 10-6 PENALTIES-YARDS 60-447 40-307 PUNTS-AVG 34-37.1 25-39.2 TIME OF POSS. 23:48 36:12 3RD DOWN CONV. 20/72 33/85 4TH DOWN CONV. 5/13 3/7
RUSHING
Att. Yds. TD Long Fenderson 25 159 1 25 Weaver 30 116 1 15 Thompson 21 90 0 18 Rolovich 6 14 0 18 Tinoisamoa 1 0 0 0 Stutzmann 1 -2 0 0 Team 2 -3 0 0 Berryman 1 -11 0 0 Harris 1 -11 0 0 Chang 7 -21 1 1 Liana 1 -26 0 0
PASSING
Att. Comp. Int. Yds. TD Chang 156 81 5 1023 6 Rolovich 85 34 2 448 2
RECEIVING
No. Yds. TD Long Lelie 25 376 4 51 Colbert 22 344 1 74 Harris 17 245 1 58 Stutzmann 14 201 2 47 Weaver 13 122 0 18 Fenderson 12 44 0 13 Welch 9 85 0 16 deLaura 2 37 0 26 Thompson 1 17 0 17
PUNTING
No. Yds. Avg. Long Berryman 22 795 36.1 65 McBriar 12 466 38.8 63
TACKLES
UT AT TT Brooks 38 16 54 Espiau 33 18 51 Kemfort 25 16 41 Jackson 21 12 33 Armstrong 20 10 30 Smith 15 11 26 Iosua 13 10 23 Brown 16 6 22 Garner 13 6 19 Tinoisamoa 15 2 17 Tucker 16 1 17 Correa 11 5 16 Fuga 11 4 15 Sims 10 5 15 Ala 6 4 10 Miller 7 3 10 Dietschy 8 1 9 Liana 6 3 9 Peters 4 3 7 Alapa 4 2 6 Samuseva 2 2 4 Correia 1 2 3 Fenderson 3 0 3 Berryman 2 0 2 Butts 1 1 2 Clowers 1 1 2 Gilmore 1 1 2 Williams 2 0 2 Avila 0 1 1 Campbell 1 0 1 Grant 1 0 1 Kauka 0 1 1 Riccardi 1 0 1 Thompson 1 0 1 Welch 1 0 1
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii