Bad news, Bears, UH pulls out win
POSTED: Saturday, September 05, 2009
The relief sweeping through Aloha Stadium last night was rivaled only by the sense of gratitude on the field.
After catching his first Division I touchdown pass, Rodney Bradley made sure to thank Hawaii head coach Greg McMackin for the opportunity.
The rest of the Warriors and most of the 33,298 in attendance were simply thankful to leave the stadium on a high note in the wake of a 25-20 victory over Central Arkansas.
Hawaii expected to be tested in its season opener, and from the very start, a feisty Central Arkansas team forced the Warriors to prove their resiliency.
“;This was a must win, we had to win this game,”; UH head coach Greg McMackin said.
“;We knew they were a good football team ... I congratulated the coach afterward. But the thing is we're just happy the guys came back. It showed a lot of character and it's something we can build on.”;
There were certainly some rough spots as Hawaii turned the ball over three times in the first half and again late in the game with the Warriors on the verge of a go-ahead score.
But in the end, they earned a passing score in the category that mattered most, thanks to the last of quarterback Greg Alexander's three touchdown passes, an 8-yard dart to Bradley in the back of the end zone with 1:22 left.
“;The whole first half I guess I had my head up my (butt),”; said Alexander, who fumbled twice and threw an interception before halftime. “;We've got a ways to go and we'll learn from it and we were lucky to get out of here with a 'W.' “;
Alexander threw for 304 yards in the season opener, with junior Greg Salas accounting for 180 in his debut as a slot receiver.
The most pivotal of Salas' seven receptions was a 66-yard catch-and-run after UH took possession trailing 20-19 at its own 26 with 2:26 left in the game.
“;Complete improv,”; Alexander said. “;I got flushed and he just ran with me and just scramble drill, he got it and made a great play on it.”;
Three plays and two timeouts later, Alexander hit Bradley for the winning score.
“;I don't know what to say; it was a nice position to catch my very first Division I TD,”; said Bradley, a junior college transfer. “;I guess the front side was covered because I was on the back side, probably the last option.
“;I beat him pretty good on the post and Greg put the ball in a good place.”;
The Warriors packed enough drama into the evening to hold the local fans until their next Aloha Stadium appearance on Oct. 10. And the conclusion put a shine on some flaws that appeared in a ragged first half for the Warriors, who fell behind 14-2 to the Bears of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA).
“;They were a good team. They showed why they won 10 games last year,”; Salas said. “;Great defense and they gave us a good, tough battle. We're going to need this kind of stuff to prepare for the rest of the season.”;
Though replacing most of its offensive weapons, UCA appeared to be the more polished unit and its defense knocked the Warriors on their heels early.
On UH's second play from scrimmage, Alexander was sacked and stripped of the ball by UCA defensive end Larry Hart, and Markell Carter recovered at the UH 16. Four plays later, Central Arkansas held a 7-0 lead after Brent Grimes walked into the end zone from the 1 for the first of his three touchdowns.
Hawaii's first points of the season came on a UCA special teams miscue when a snap sailed over the head of punter Jonathan Beard, who kicked the loose ball through the back of the end zone for a safety.
The Warriors then turned to Salas for a spark, and the junior delivered a 44-yard gain and scored UH's first touchdown of the season on a 4-yard reception from Alexander, cutting the deficit to 14-9 at halftime.
The UH defense held UCA to 31 yards in the third quarter to give the offense the opening for its rally, thanks in part to a halftime tweak after the Bears spread the field and picked up chunks of yards on screens in the first half.
“;They're a talented team and we had a key on them where we started checking coverages,”; McMackin said.
“;We have a smart football team. ... I'm really proud of our team because we made a pretty complicated adjustment.”;
UH took its first lead of the season on its opening possession of the second half. A 37-yard connection to Salas highlighted a drive that ended with Alexander's 3-yard scoring pass to Kealoha Pilares.
The Warriors added a 36-yard field goal by Scott Enos, but UCA put together a 10-play, 86-yard drive, reclaiming a 20-19 lead on Grimes' 1-yard dive.
Hawaii 25, Central Arkansas 20
At Aloha Stadium
| Central Arkansas | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 | — | 20 |
| Hawaii | 2 | 7 | 10 | 6 | — | 25 |
| First Quarter | |||
| CA | 13:00 | Grimes 1 run (Carmona kick) | 7-0 |
| UH | 9:03 | Safety | 7-2 |
| Second Quarter | |||
| CA | 12:57 | Grimes 4 pass from Park (Carmona kick) | 14-2 |
| UH | 4:14 | Salas 4 pass from Alexander (S. Enos kick) | 14-9 |
| Third Quarter | |||
| UH | 8:47 | Pilares 3 pass from Alexander (S. Enos kick) | 14-16 |
| UH | 2:21 | FG S. Enos 36 | 14-19 |
| Fourth Quarter | |||
| CA | 10:00 | Grimes 1 run (pass failed) | 20-19 |
| UH | 1:22 | Bradley 8 pass from Alexander (pass failed) | 20-25 |
Attendance —33,298. Time: 3:11.
Officials — Referee: Pete Gautreau; Umpire: Brian Liles; Linesman: M. Scherrens; Line judge: Wayne Winkler; Back judge: Dave Baldwin; Field judge: Otis Byrd; Side judge: Lark Jones; Scorer: Dara Young.
Team Statistics
| UCA | HAWAII | |
| FIRST DOWNS | 16 | 17 |
| Rushing | 6 | 6 |
| Passing | 10 | 11 |
| Penalty | 0 | 0 |
| NET YARDS RUSHING | 84 | 111 |
| Rushing Attempts | 38 | 28 |
| Average Per Rush | 2.2 | 4.0 |
| Rushing Touchdowns | 2 | 0 |
| Yards Gained Rushing | 142 | 144 |
| Yards Lost Rushing | 58 | 33 |
| NET YARDS PASSING | 186 | 304 |
| Completions-Attempts-Int | 20-31-0 | 21-32-1 |
| Average Per Attempt | 6.0 | 9.5 |
| Average Per Completion | 9.3 | 14.5 |
| Passing Touchdowns | 1 | 3 |
| TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS | 270 | 415 |
| Total offense plays | 69 | 60 |
| Average Gain Per Play | 3.9 | 6.9 |
| Fumbles: Number-Lost | 2-1 | 4-3 |
| Penalties: Number-Yards | 6-35 | 2-5 |
| PUNTS-YARDS | 6-256 | 3-106 |
| Average Yards Per Punt | 42.7 | 35.3 |
| Net Yards Per Punt | 34.3 | 35.3 |
| Inside 20 | 1 | 1 |
| 50+ Yards | 1 | 0 |
| Touchbacks | 0 | 0 |
| Fair catch | 0 | 1 |
| KICKOFFS-YARDS | 5-347 | 5-302 |
| Average Yards Per Kickoff | 69.4 | 60.4 |
| Net Yards Per Kickoff | 44.0 | 45.6 |
| Touchbacks | 0 | 1 |
| Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD | 0-0-0 | 5-50-0 |
| Average Per Return | 0.0 | 10.0 |
| Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD | 3-54-0 | 5-127-0 |
| Average Per Return | 18.0 | 25.4 |
| Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD | 1-0-0 | 0-0-0 |
| Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD | 0-0-0 | 0-0-0 |
| Miscellaneous Yards | 0 | 0 |
| Possession Time | 33:24 | 26:36 |
| 1st Quarter | 8:27 | 6:33 |
| 2nd Quarter | 8:35 | 6:25 |
| 3rd Quarter | 6:11 | 8:49 |
| 4th Quarter | 10:11 | 4:49 |
| Third-Down Conversions | 6 of 15 | 6 of 10 |
| Fourth-Down Conversions | 1 of 3 | 0 of 0 |
| Red-Zone Scores-Chances | 3-3 | 4-6 |
| Sacks By: Number-Yards | 4-23 | 2-19 |
| PAT Kicks | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| Field Goals | 0-0 | 1-1 |
Western Athletic Conference
| CONFERENCE | OVERALL | |||||||
| W | L | PF | PA | W | L | PF | PA | |
| Boise State | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 8 |
| Hawaii | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 20 |
| Fresno State | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 |
| Idaho | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 |
| Louisiana Tech | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 |
| Nevada | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 |
| New Mexico State | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 |
| San Jose State | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 |
| Utah State | 0 | 0 | 00 | 00 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 17 |
THURSDAY
Boise State 19, Oregon 8
Utah 35, Utah State 17
YESTERDAY
Hawaii 25, Central Arkansas 20
TODAY
San Jose State at USC, 9:30 a.m.
Nevada at Notre Dame, 9:30 a.m.
Louisiana Tech at Auburn, 1 p.m.
Idaho at New Mexico State, 2 p.m.
UC Davis at Fresno State, 4 p.m.
Central Arkansas | |||||||||
| RUSHING | No. | Gain | Loss | Net | TD | Lg | Avg. | ||
| Grimes,Brent | 18 | 66 | 1 | 65 | 2 | 15 | 3.6 | ||
| Ceaser,Leonard | 10 | 63 | 1 | 62 | 0 | 19 | 6.2 | ||
| Lovett,James | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.0 | ||
| Park,Robbie | 8 | 12 | 22 | -10 | 0 | 7 | -1.2 | ||
| TEAM | 1 | 0 | 34 | -34 | 0 | 0 | -34.0 | ||
| Totals | 38 | 142 | 58 | 84 | 2 | 19 | 2.2 | ||
| PASSING | Cmp-Att-Int | Yds | TD | Long | Sack | ||||
| Park,Robbie | 20-31-0 | 186 | 1 | 29 | 2 | ||||
| RECEIVING | No. | Yds | TD | Lg | |||||
| Echols,Preston | 5 | 44 | 0 | 13 | |||||
| Lovett,James | 4 | 61 | 0 | 29 | |||||
| Jackson,Isaiah | 4 | 37 | 0 | 13 | |||||
| Adams,TJ | 2 | 20 | 0 | 14 | |||||
| Grimes,Brent | 2 | 7 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| Croom,Dominique | 1 | 8 | 0 | 8 | |||||
| Moss,Rico | 1 | 7 | 0 | 7 | |||||
| Ceaser,Leonard | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||
| Totals | 20 | 186 | 1 | 29 | |||||
| PUNTING | No. | Yds | Avg | Long | In20 | TB | |||
| Beard,Jonathan | 6 | 256 | 42.7 | 50 | 1 | 0 | |||
| ALL RETURNS | Punts | Kickoffs | Intercept | ||||||
| No | Yds | Lg | No | Yds | Lg | No | Yds | Lg | |
| Jackson,Isaiah | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adams,TJ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 41 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Feazell,Pieri | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 54 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| ALL PURPOSE | Rush | Rcv | KR | PR | IR | Total | |||
| Grimes,Brent | 65 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 72 | |||
| Ceaser,Leonard | 62 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 | |||
| Lovett,James | 1 | 61 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 62 | |||
| Adams,TJ | 0 | 20 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 61 | |||
| Jackson,Isaiah | 0 | 37 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 50 | |||
| Echols,Preston | 0 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | |||
| Croom,Dominique | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |||
| Moss,Rico | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |||
| Park,Robbie | -10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -10 | |||
| TEAM | -34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -34 | |||
| Totals | 84 | 186 | 54 | 0 | 0 | 324
| |||
Hawaii | |||||||||
| RUSHING | No. | Gain | Loss | Net | TD | Lg | Avg. | ||
| Greg Alexander | 16 | 100 | 24 | 76 | 0 | 23 | 4.8 | ||
| Alex Green | 5 | 19 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 8 | 3.4 | ||
| Kealoha Pilares | 1 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 13.0 | ||
| Leon Wright-Jackson | 4 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 12 | 2.2 | ||
| TEAM | 2 | 0 | 4 | -4 | 0 | 0 | -2.0 | ||
| Totals | 28 | 144 | 33 | 111 | 0 | 23 | 4.0 | ||
| PASSING | Cmp-Att-Int | Yds | TD | Long | Sack | ||||
| Greg Alexander | 21-32-1 | 304 | 3 | 66 | 4 | ||||
| RECEIVING | No. | Yds | TD | Lg | |||||
| Greg Salas | 7 | 180 | 1 | 66 | |||||
| Kealoha Pilares | 6 | 42 | 1 | 15 | |||||
| Leon Wright-Jackson | 4 | 33 | 0 | 15 | |||||
| Rodney Bradley | 3 | 42 | 1 | 17 | |||||
| Jovonte Taylor | 1 | 7 | 0 | 7 | |||||
| Totals | 21 | 304 | 3 | 66 | |||||
| PUNTING | No. | Yds | Avg | Long | In20 | TB | |||
| Alex Dunnachie | 3 | 106 | 35.3 | 41 | 1 | 0 | |||
| ALL RETURNS | Punts | Kickoffs | Intercept | ||||||
| No | Yds | Lg | No | Yds | Lg | No | Yds | Lg | |
| Kealoha Pilares | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jovonte Taylor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 103 | 48 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan Henry | 5 | 50 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 5 | 50 | 16 | 5 | 127 | 48 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ALL PURPOSE | Rush | Rcv | KR | PR | IR | Total | |||
| Greg Salas | 0 | 180 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 180 | |||
| Jovonte Taylor | 0 | 7 | 103 | 0 | 0 | 110 | |||
| Kealoha Pilares | 13 | 42 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 79 | |||
| Greg Alexander | 76 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 76 | |||
| Ryan Henry | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 0 | 50 | |||
| Rodney Bradley | 0 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | |||
| Leon Wright-Jackson | 9 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | |||
| Alex Green | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | |||
| TEAM | -4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4 | |||
| Totals | 111 | 304 | 127 | 50 | 0 | 592 |
Individual Defensive Statistics
TACKLES FOR LOSS-YARDS —Cent. Arkansas, Bane 2-3, Knowlton 1-9, Perry 1-6, Hart 1-6, Johnson 1-2, Andrew 1-1, Lippe 0.5-1, Carter 0.5-1. Hawaii, Brown 1-11, Paredes 1-8, Correa 1-3, Meatoga 1-1, Soares 0.5-1, Falemalu 0.5-0.
SACKS-YARDS —Cent. Arkansas, Knowlton 1-9, Perry 1-6, Hart 1-6, Johnson 1-2. Hawaii, Brown 1-11, Paredes 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS —Cent. Arkansas, Feazell 1-0. Hawaii, None.
KICKS BLOCKED —Cent. Arkansas, None. Hawaii, None.
QUARTERBACK HURRIES —Cent. Arkansas, Taylor, Perry, Hart. Hawaii, Silva, Smith, Soares, Purcell, Meatoga, Correa.
Central Arkansas
| |||
| TACKLES | |||
| PLAYER | SOLO | AST | T |
| Bane | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| Feazell | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Lancaster | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Gambles | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Johnson | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Minor | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Boyd | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Hutton | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Scott | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Moore | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Hyatt | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Hill | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Lippe | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Carter | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Knowlton | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Perry | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Coleman | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Hart | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Opeloye | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Hawaii
| |||
| TACKLES | |||
| PLAYER | SOLO | AST | T |
| Silva | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| Kiesel-Kauhane | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| Smith | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| Soares | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Bryant | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Brown | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Satele | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Tufaga | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Davis | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Purcell | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Meatoga | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Falemalu | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Paredes | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Savaiigaea | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Gomes | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Enos | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Correa | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Heun | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Rice | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Wright-Jackson | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Lolotai | 0 | 1 | 1 |
