LaBoy shows up
whenever scouts do
SAN JOSE, Calif. >> Travis LaBoy put on a show for his friends and family yesterday -- and the NFL scouts.
The Hawaii senior defensive end was in San Jose State quarterback Scott Rislov's face for much of the Warriors' 13-10 victory over the Spartans yesterday.
And dozens of LaBoy's hometown supporters from San Rafael -- about a 90-minute drive north of San Jose -- showed up to see him do it.
"I definitely have a lot of friends here and that makes it very rewarding," said LaBoy, who finished with seven tackles, including two sacks among three tackles for loss for 22 yards.
"Today I think the defense clicked on all cylinders," LaBoy said. "This is the first time we all played well together. It will be good to have this tape to learn from."
LaBoy has been invited to the Senior Bowl and the Hula Bowl, and will likely get an invite to the East-West Shrine Game so the scouts can get more looks at him before the NFL Draft. But the bowl he's most concerned about is the Hawaii Bowl. The Warriors need one more win in their final four games to qualify for an automatic invitation to it for a second consecutive year.
"We'll play every game and every play of every game to get to that bowl," LaBoy said.
Nine scouts requested credentials for yesterday's game, and UH coach June Jones made sure LaBoy knew about it.
"Travis LaBoy is big-time. There were a lot of scouts at the game and he seems to get motivated when they show up," Jones said.
Owens shines again: Junior receiver Chad Owens led Hawaii's offense with another big game yesterday, but all he could talk about was the UH defense after the Warriors' win.
"I just thank God for the defense stepping up at the end," Owens said. "It shouldn't have been this close."
Owens seems to play best on the road. He caught nine passes for a game-high 149 yards yesterday, two weeks after an eight-catch, 162-yard effort at Louisiana Tech.
He provided a huge play for the offense when he turned a pass from Tim Chang designed to get a first down into a career-long 62-yard gain in the third quarter. It was the key play of the drive that culminated in a 15-yard touchdown off a shovel pass to West Keli'ikipi from Chang.
Sputtering: Hawaii's 13 points was the fewest in a game for the program since Texas-El Paso beat UH 39-7 on Sept. 23, 2000.
It is the fewest points for Hawaii in a victory since Sept. 12, 1992, when UH beat Air Force 6-3.
Injury report: Starting left guard Samson Satele sprained his left knee in the fourth quarter. He was replaced by Phil Kauffman.
Wide receiver Jeremiah Cockheran caught one pass for 14 yards and seemed bothered by his recurring right ankle sprain.
Short yardage: San Jose State's Gerald Jones didn't add to his two-year career total of 13 interceptions, but he did come close, knocking down two of Chang's passes. He also led the Spartans with eight tackles. ... After scoring both of Hawaii's TDs yesterday, Keli'ikipi leads UH with seven touchdowns. ... Hyrum Peters had a sack as one of his game-high 13 tackles. Isaac Sopoaga and Keani Alapa had 10 stops each. Lui Fuga added a sack. ... Chang was sacked twice, once by Philip Perry and once by Sean McNamara.
