ASSOCIATED PRESS
UH's Clifton Herbert couldn't pull in this Tim Chang pass Saturday against UTEP.
Warriors got team EL PASO, Texas >> Hawaii coach June Jones is fond of saying you can never have too many quarterbacks.
effort in winning
WAC opener
Chang struggled, but another
UH Statistics
pair of passers came through,
as did the defense
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comSaturday's 31-6 victory over Texas-El Paso showed why.
Starter Tim Chang had an off night, but Shawn Withy-Allen stepped in and passed for two touchdowns and rushed for another.
And then there was Chad Kapanui, who began his UH career two years ago as a quarterback and is now a safety. Kapanui's biggest play Saturday was a third-quarter pass, however, as he completed a short toss in punt formation to Kilinahe Noa, who ran 70 yards to the UTEP 3. Withy-Allen scored on the next play, making the score 21-6, and the punchless Miners pretty much knew it was over.
Kapanui is now 2-for-2 on trick plays, having thrown a touchdown pass out of a kicking formation in UH's victory over Fresno State last year.
"Chad and Kilinahe made me look good," said Jones, who allows Kapanui, the up-back in punt formation, to call fakes on his own.
"I'm not sure (Kapanui) can't play quarterback," he said. "Maybe before he gets out of here we'll have to look at him there again."
You never know how serious Jones is when he says things like that -- Hawaii players change positions quicker than some local politicians change their addresses.
For now, UH might be going with quarterback by committee, Jones said. Chang is still the starter, but Withy-Allen adds another dimension with his running ability. And what of Jason Whieldon, who was No. 2 before he left the team last week? Jones declined comment, but Whieldon was expected to return today.
Hawaii won a road game by 25 points despite a misfiring starting quarterback, 33 yards from its two top running backs, two turnovers and 115 penalty yards. The Warriors won with defense.
While the fake punt was the knockout blow, safety Hyrum Peters and the rest of the defense provided the jabs. Peters' two interceptions set up UH's first two scores, and he made a game-high 13 tackles.
"Hyrum was big-time," said linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who also made an interception (Lono Manners grabbed UH's fourth pick). "We knew the defense had to make some plays and help turn things around and get some momentum. We were well prepared."
Knowing that the running game is UTEP's strength, defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa contained tailback Howard Jackson by often putting nine players up near the line of scrimmage, leaving cornerbacks Abraham Elimimian and Kelvin Millhouse to fend for themselves against the Miners receivers. Elimimian, who was in on seven tackles, also managed to stop Jackson several times -- most notably for a 7-yard loss back to the UH 10 -- on option plays.
Hawaii forced UTEP to settle for field goals after the Miners drove to the Hawaii 7- and 3-yard lines.
"Abraham was unbelievable," Jones said. "And Isaac (Sopoaga) played really well."
Sopoaga, the heralded JC transfer defensive tackle, had his best game so far with seven tackles. He, fellow tackle Lance Samuseva and middle linebacker Chris Brown stuffed the dive, a key to slowing an option attack.
Defensive end La'anui Correa said the Warriors were extremely well prepared.
"Their formations pretty much told us what they were going to do," he said.
Although the UH offense stumbled much of the game, it wasn't the fault of the line. Once again, it allowed only one sack.
"We all chipped in. It was a blue-collar, gut-it-out victory," Withy-Allen said. "Tonight showed everybody how much of a team we are. We don't have one superstar, but we have more talent than I've seen on this team."
"Everyone picked it up," Kapanui said. "We knew we had to win our WAC opener."
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UH Statistics
Team Statistics
HAWAII OPP FIRST DOWN 61 75 Rushing 15 35 Passing 38 36 Penalty 8 4 RUSHING YARDAGE 421 438 Yards gained rushing 454 572 Yards lost rushing 33 134 Rushing attempts 78 137 Average per rush 5.4 3.2 Average per game 140.3 146.0 Touchdowns rushing 5 5 PASSING YARDAGE 981 696 Att-Comp-Int 133-61-6 140-63-6 Average per pass 7.4 5.0 Average per catch 16.1 11.0 Average per game 327.0 232.0 Touchdowns passing 9 5 TOTAL OFFENSE 1402 1134 Total plays 211 277 Average per play 6.6 4.1 Average per game 467.3 378.0 KICK RETURNS: No-Yds 13-329 15-318 PUNT RETURNS: No-Yds 6-61 3-46 INT. RETURNS: No-Yds 6-134 6-28 FUMBLES-LOST 2-2 2-1 PENALTIES-YARDS 23-233 23-191 PUNTS-AVG 11-42.0 18-38.2 TIME OF POSS./GAME 24:34 35:26 3RD-DOWN CONV. 19/46 27/66 4TH-DOWN CONV. 3/7 5/10
RUSHING
G Att Net Avg TD Long Bass 3 20 146 7.3 0 37 Withy-Allen 3 7 83 11.9 1 42 Mitchell 3 22 59 2.7 4 10 Chang 3 6 42 7.0 0 27 West 2 2 26 13.0 0 13 Brewster 3 6 25 4.2 0 18 Whieldon 2 5 18 3.6 0 9 Ilaoa 3 4 12 3.0 0 8 Herbert 3 2 10 10.0 0 10 Owens 3 2 5 2.5 0 3 Team 2 2 -3 -1.5 0 0 Total 3 78 421 5.4 5 42
PASSING
G Att Comp Int Yds TD Long Chang 3 109 48 6 736 4 59 Whieldon 2 13 7 0 86 3 24 Withy-Allen 3 10 5 0 89 2 25 Kapanui 2 1 1 0 70 0 70 Total 3 133 61 6 981 9 70
RECEIVING
G Rec Yds Avg TD Long Owens 3 12 131 10.9 0 22 Colbert 3 9 178 19.8 2 59 Herbert 3 9 176 19.6 1 49 Ilaoa 3 7 99 14.1 2 25 Komine 3 7 84 12.0 3 24 Gossett 3 7 73 10.4 1 25 Bass 3 5 82 16.4 0 46 Mitchell 2 2 56 28.0 0 50 Cockheran 2 2 32 16.0 0 23 Noa 3 1 70 70.0 0 70 Total 3 61 981 16.1 9 70
TOTAL OFFENSE
G Plays Rush Pass Tot Avg Chang 3 115 42 736 778 259.3 Withy-Allen 3 17 83 89 172 57.3 Bass 3 13 127 0 127 42.3 Whieldon 2 18 18 86 104 52.0 Kapanui 2 1 0 70 70 35.0 Mitchell 3 17 45 0 45 15.0 West 2 2 26 0 26 13.0 Brewster 3 6 25 0 25 8.3 LaBoy 2 7 19 0 19 9.5 Mitchell 1 5 14 0 14 14.0 Ilaoa 3 4 12 0 12 4.0 Herbert 3 2 8 0 8 2.7 Owens 3 2 5 0 5 1.7 Team 2 2 -3 0 -3 -1.5 Total 3 211 421 981 1402 467.3
SCORING
TD FG 1XP 2XP Tot Ayat 0 4-5 14-14 0 26 Mitchell 4 0-0 0-0 0 24 Komine 3 0-0 0-0 0 18 Colbert 2 0-0 0-0 0 12 Herbert 1 0-0 0-0 2 8 Peters 1 0-0 0-0 0 6 Withy-Allen 1 0-0 0-0 0 6 Gossett 1 0-0 0-0 0 6 Maafala 1 0-0 0-0 0 6 Ilaoa 1 0-0 0-0 0 6 Chang 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 Total 16 4-5 14-14 0 124
PUNTING
No. Yds Avg Long McBriar 11 462 42.0 61 Total 11 462 42.0 61
Punt Returns
No. Yds Avg TD Long Herbert 2 39 19.5 0 33 Bass 2 20 10.0 0 11 Owens 2 2 1.0 0 3 Total 6 61 10.2 0 33
KICK RETURNS
No. Yds Avg TD Long Brewster 10 280 28.0 0 60 West 1 18 18.0 0 18 Owens 1 25 25.0 0 25 Kauka 1 6 6.0 0 6 Total 13 329 25.3 0 60
INTERCEPTIONS
No. Yds Avg Td Long Peters 3 73 24.3 1 30 Manners 1 10 10.0 0 10 Tinoisamoa 1 19 19.0 0 19 Maafala 1 32 32.0 1 32 Total 6 134 22.3 2 32
TACKLES
G UT AT Tot Peters 3 22 7 29 Brown 3 18 10 28 Tinoisamoa 3 14 13 27 Elimimian 3 15 6 21 Millhouse 3 14 4 18 Gilmore 3 9 7 16 Wright 3 10 5 15 Butts 3 9 5 14 Sopoaga 3 8 6 14 Samuseva 3 9 3 12 Correa 3 9 2 11 Ala 3 8 1 9 Bhonapha 3 6 1 7 Alapa 3 4 2 6 LaBoy 2 3 3 6 Jackson 3 2 4 6 Noa 3 2 3 5 Kalilimoku 3 2 3 5 Maafala 3 - 4 4 Kapanui 2 3 1 4 Manners 3 3 - 3 Moe 2 1 1 2 Ayat 3 1 1 2 Wills 2 2 - 2 Fuga 1 - 1 1 Gossett 3 1 - 1 Harley 1 1 - 1 Colbert 3 1 - 1 Broadway 2 1 - 1 Patton 2 1 - 1 Moenoa 2 1 - 1 Kamakawiwoole 1 - 1 1 Hollingsworth 1 1 - 1 Cravalho 2 - 1 1 Owens 3 - 1 1 West 3 - - - Total 3 183 94 277
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