Sunday, September 30, 2001
[ UH WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
Rice linebacker Dan Dawson figured he got beat about 10 times last night. Not exactly a good game for the senior rover who has proved to be a thorn in Hawaii's side the past two seasons. Dawson earns redemption
with key interceptionBy Paul Arnett
parnett@starbulletin.comSo when he stepped in front of Warriors receiver Justin Colbert on what he called a Montana slip screen and picked off the Tim Chang pass, he had visions of wiping out an otherwise bad evening on one play.
Breaking tackles along the way, including a weak attempt by Chang 12 yards into the return, Dawson took the interception 70 yards to the house for a touchdown to help rally Rice from a 14-point deficit to secure the 27-24 victory last night at shocked and silent Aloha Stadium.
"In practice, two or three receivers always come to block me on that play," Dawson said. "So all night, when I saw them release without blocking me, I figured there was some kind of route combination.
"When he was catching it, the linemen were coming out to get me. So then, on that play, I saw back set weak, trips equal distribution, it's got a chance to be a Montana, so I might as well gamble at this point in the game. So when I saw them release, I just stood.
"I glanced over and saw the wideout (Colbert) coming over. I really just took a gamble. I really had been playing bad, so that's good, when you're playing bad, you can afford to play worse. You know what I'm saying? So I just gambled. If I got beat, so what, I've already been beat 10 times."
Last year, Dawson wore out Chang, intercepting him three times in leading Rice to the lopsided win. This year, it was close, but the play left Rice head coach Ken Hatfield ecstatic to get the big road win after being blown out by No. 4 Nebraska 10 days ago.
"That's as good as I have ever felt before in sports," Hatfield said. "Just for the kids themselves. I don't think you could ask for more adversity and things going on. We lose our starting quarterback (Kyle Herm) the third play of the game and then the other one (Greg Henderson) gets cramps.
"It was disappointing because we wanted to redshirt (third-string quarterback Joe Moore), but he came in and did a good job. We couldn't have won without him. He didn't make any mistakes and it allowed Henderson to come back in later. He had to have an IV in the third quarter just to get him hydrated again.
"But to me, the big play defensively was Dan's. I've never been a game where the defense made more big plays. He stepped in there and read the play. He made a great run. They had him tackled, but he broke some along the way and gave us a huge lift. We needed that."
Later, Dawson blocked a 42-yard attempt by UH's Justin Ah Yat. He said the push up front allowed him to come in untouched over the top.
"I just jumped up there and blocked it," Dawson said. "I wasn't sure I got my hand on the ball, but hey, I'll take the credit if they give it to me. It was a big play, not as big as the interception, but if he makes it, the outcome of the game might be different. It wasn't a great night overall, but those two plays were big."
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
