Warriors feast on Apple turnovers
POSTED: Sunday, September 13, 2009
SEATTLE » From the start, Hawaii's first performance away from home went according to script.
Following a plan crafted during the week, the Warriors offense struck early and fed off a ball-hawking defense to open a string of three consecutive road games with a 38-20 win over Washington State yesterday at Qwest Field.
“;I thought we won on all three sides of the ball and it's tough to win on the road, especially against a Pac-10 school,”; said UH head coach Greg McMackin, after the Warriors improved to 2-0 before a crowd of 42,912.
“;We're moving in the right direction. We got better this week than we were last week.”;
With quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich calling the plays for the first time, the Warriors racked up 626 yards in total offense, the most since a win over Arizona State in the 2006 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.
And for the second straight week, Hawaii quarterback Greg Alexander set a career high in torching the WSU defense for 453 passing yards.
He completed 11 of 13 passes on Hawaii's first four possessions and the Warriors capitalized on WSU miscues to build a 35-0 lead less than 20 minutes into the game.
The Warriors came away with seven Washington State turnovers as the Cougars fumbled seven times, losing four. UH safeties Spencer Smith and Mana Silva both had interceptions in the first half. Silva added another in the second half off a tip by Smith.
“;We were clicking tonight,”; Smith said. “;We were on the same page with calls. Last week was our first test and I think we took a step up this week. Now we have to keep going up.”;
Rolovich conceded to feeling a few butterflies in the days leading up to the game, but scripting the first handful of plays helped the offense find a rhythm seemingly from the time the Warriors emerged from the tunnel.
“;When I was a quarterback, I know I enjoyed knowing what the first five plays are the night before,”; Rolovich said. “;They can sleep on it, they can visualize positively. So I think it helps them and got us off to a nice start.”;
Alexander confirmed as much after the game.
“;You have an idea of what you're going to do the first play and you have an idea of the looks you're going to get. It just takes the comfort level higher,”; Alexander said.
Alexander opened by connecting with Rodney Bradley with his first two throws, and a 26-yard run by Leon Wright-Jackson moved the Warriors into WSU territory. After a completion to Kealoha Pilares and a 5-yard run by Inoke Funaki in the season debut of UH's “;wildcat”; look, Alexander hit Bradley for a 23-yard tone-setting score.
While McMackin praised Rolovich's debut calling the plays, Rolovich spread the credit to the staff, under the direction of coordinator Ron Lee.
“;The communication and the way the staff worked together was what made this happen,”; Rolovich said. “;It's not just one guy doing it.”;
Salas topped his 180-yard performance in UH's 25-20 comeback win over Central Arkansas the previous week by covering 195 on seven receptions yesterday. Bradley finished with 150 yards and two touchdowns.
“;We knew what we could do and we just had to go out and do it,”; Salas said. “;After Central Arkansas people were looking at us like, 'They barely beat them, how are they going to do against a Pac-10 team?' But we knew what we could do. We just have to limit our turnovers and we'll be fine.”;
The defense not only fed the offense with the takeaways, they also stifled the Cougars any time they threatened to creep back into contention.
With UH leading 14-0, Washington State appeared headed for a score when linebacker Corey Paredes punched the ball out of the grip of WSU receiver Jared Karstetter just short of the goal line. Then the ball squirted into the end zone and out of bounds, resulting in a touchback and Hawaii possession.
“;It was a big momentum-killer for them. ... Every team is dangerous when they have momentum and confidence,”; Paredes said after tying Blaze Soares for team-high honors with eight tackles in his first career start. “;I saw (Karstetter) holding the ball wide and the coaches have us practice the fumble drill. So I saw it and punched it out.”;
A 2-yard touchdown run by Wright-Jackson gave UH a 21-0 lead and the feeding frenzy kicked in when Alexander hit Bradley on a post and the junior sprinted away from the Cougars for a 73-yard score.
“;When I caught it, I was surprised I was still up, so I just took off,”; Bradley said. “;There wasn't anybody in front of me. I wasn't worried about anybody behind me.”;
It took just 1 minute, 10 seconds to add to the lead as UH turned Karstetter's second fumble of the game into a 44-yard touchdown run by Alex Green and the Warriors led 35-0 at the 10:05 mark of the second quarter.
Hawaii had turnover issues of its own later in the game as two Alexander fumbles led to WSU field goals and the Warriors gave the ball away four times.
WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
| CONFERENCE | OVERALL | |||||||
| W | L | PF | PA | W | L | PF | PA | |
| Idaho | 1 | 0 | 21 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 44 | 48 |
| Boise State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 67 | 8 |
| Hawaii | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 63 | 40 |
| Fresno State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 82 | 34 |
| Utah State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 35 |
| Nevada | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 35 |
| Louisiana Tech | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 27 | 69 |
| San Jose State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 80 |
| New Mexico State | 0 | 1 | 6 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 39 |
YESTERDAY
» Hawaii 38, Washington 20
» Wisconsin 34, Fresno State 31, 3 OTs
» Washington 42, Idaho 23
» Navy 32, Louisiana Tech 14
» New Mexico State 21 Prairie View A&M 18
» No. 12 Boise State 48 Miami (Ohio) 0
» No. 17 Utah 24 San Jose State 14
HAWAII 38, WASHINGTON STATE 20
At Qwest Field
| Hawaii | 21 | 14 | 0 | 3 | — | 38 |
| Washington State | 0 | 6 | 7 | 7 | — | 20 |
| First Quarter | |||
| UH | 11:50 | Rodney Bradley 23 pass from Greg Alexander (Scott Enos kick) | 7-0 |
| UH | 7:22 | Greg Salas 7 pass from Alexander (Enos kick) | 14-0 |
| UH | 0:34 | Leon Wright-Jackson 2 run(Enos kick) | 21-0 |
| Second Quarter | |||
| UH | 11:15 | Bradley 73 pass from Alexander (Enos kick) | 28-0 |
| UH | 10:05 | Alex Green 44 run (Enos kick) | 35-0 |
| WSU | 2:03 | Nico Grasu 20 FG | 35-3 |
| WSU | 0:42 | Grasu 40 FG | 35-6 |
| Third Quarter | |||
| WSU | 8:00 | James Montgomery 2 run (Grasu kick) | 35-13 |
| Fourth Quarter | |||
| WSU | 13:18 | Kevin Lopina 4 run (Grasu kick) | 35-20 |
| UH | 11:00 | Enos 20 FG | 38-20 |
Attendance —42,912. Time: 3:19.
Officials — Referee: Michael Batlan; Umpire: Al Granado; Linesman: Cappy Anderson; Line judge: Michael Feldman; Back judge: David Lambors; Field judge: Kevin Kesar; Side judge: Bernie Hulsher; Scorer: Jessica Schmick.
TEAM STATISTICS
| HAWAII | WSU | |
| First Downs | 22 | 22 |
| Rushing | 4 | 9 |
| Passing | 15 | 9 |
| Penalty | 3 | 4 |
| Net Yards Rushing | 137 | 176 |
| Rushing Attempts | 26 | 39 |
| Average Per Rush | 5.3 | 4.5 |
| Rushing Touchdowns | 2 | 2 |
| Yards Gained Rushing | 148 | 203 |
| Yards Lost Rushing | 11 | 27 |
| Net Yards Passing | 489 | 227 |
| Completions-Attempts-Int | 27-37-0 | 20-38-3 |
| Average Per Attempt | 13.2 | 6.0 |
| Average Per Completion | 18.1 | 11.4 |
| Passing Touchdowns | 3 | 0 |
| Total Offense Yards | 626 | 403 |
| Total offense plays | 63 | 77 |
| Average Gain Per Play | 9.9 | 5.2 |
| Fumbles: Number-Lost | 4-4 | 7-4 |
| Penalties: Number-Yards | 12-120 | 7-54 |
| Punts-Yards | 4-101 | 4-184 |
| Average Yards Per Punt | 25.2 | 46.0 |
| Net Yards Per Punt | 24.5 | 44.5 |
| Inside 20 | 0 | 1 |
| 50+ Yards | 0 | 1 |
| Touchbacks | 0 | 0 |
| Fair catch | 1 | 0 |
| Kickoffs-Yards | 7-420 | 5-299 |
| Average Yards Per Kickoff | 67.1 | 59.8 |
| Net Yards Per Kickoff | 48.6 | 38.4 |
| Touchbacks | 0 | 0 |
| Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD | 3-6-0 | 1-3-0 |
| Average Per Return | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD | 5-107-0 | 7-130-0 |
| Average Per Return | 21.4 | 18.6 |
| Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD | 3-5-0 | 0-0-0 |
| Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD | 0-0-0 | 2-39-0 |
| Miscellaneous Yards | 0 | 0 |
| Possession Time | 30:19 | 29:41 |
| 1st Quarter | 8:41 | 6:19 |
| 2nd Quarter | 5:20 | 9:40 |
| 3rd Quarter | 5:54 | 9:06 |
| 4th Quarter | 10:24 | 4:36 |
| Third-Down Conversions | 2 of 8 | 3 of 13 |
| Fourth-Down Conversions | 0 of 0 | 2 of 2 |
| Red-Zone Scores-Chances | 3-6 | 4-4 |
| Sacks By: Number-Yards | 3-19 | 1-1 |
| PAT Kicks | 5-5 | 2-2 |
| Field Goals | 1-1 | 2-2 |
INDIVIDUAL DEFENSIVE STATISTICS
TACKLES FOR LOSS-YARDS —Washington St., Hoffman-Ellis 2-4, Feagin 1-6, Hamlett 1-1. Hawaii, Paredes 1-3, Tufaga 1-8, Brown 1-13, Clore 1-2, Satele 1-8, Corrrea 1-1.
SACKS-YARDS —Washington St., Hamlett 1-1. Hawaii, Paredes 1-3, Tufaga 1-8, Satele 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS —Washington St., none. Hawaii, Silva 2-2, Smith 1-3.
KICKS BLOCKED —Washington St., None. Hawaii, None.
QUARTERBACK HURRIES —Washington St., Long, Turpin. Hawaii, Falemalu 2, Soares.
INDIVIDUAL OFFENSIVE STATISTICS
| WASHINGTON STATE | |||||||||
| RUSHING | No. | Gain | Loss | Net | TD | Lg | Avg. | ||
| James Montgomery | 17 | 119 | 1 | 118 | 1 | 28 | 6.9 | ||
| Dwight Tardy | 7 | 29 | 3 | 26 | 0 | 12 | 3.7 | ||
| Kevin Lopina | 10 | 36 | 20 | 16 | 1 | 9 | 1.6 | ||
| Logwone Mitz | 3 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 4.0 | ||
| Daniel Blackledge | 1 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 7.0 | ||
| Marshall Lobbestael | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0 | 0 | -3.0 | ||
| Totals | 39 | 203 | 27 | 176 | 2 | 28 | 4.5 | ||
| PASSING | Cmp-Att-Int | Yds | TD | Long | Sack | ||||
| Kevin Lopina | 18-32-2 | 191 | 0 | 44 | 2 | ||||
| Marshall Lobbestael | 2-6-1 | 36 | 0 | 23 | 1 | ||||
| Totals | 20-38-3 | 227 | 0 | 244 | 3 | ||||
| RECEIVING | No. | Yds | TD | Lg | |||||
| Jeffrey Solomon | 6 | 71 | 0 | 25 | |||||
| Jeshua Anderson | 3 | 57 | 0 | 44 | |||||
| Jared Karstetter | 3 | 32 | 0 | 23 | |||||
| Gino Simone | 3 | 19 | 0 | 11 | |||||
| Daniel Blackledge | 2 | 34 | 0 | 24 | |||||
| Dwight Tardy | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3 | |||||
| James Montgomery | 1 | 10 | 0 | 10 | |||||
| Totals | 20 | 227 | 0 | 44 | |||||
| PUNTING | No. | Yds | Avg | Long | In20 | TB | |||
| Reid Forrest | 4 | 184 | 46.0 | 62 | 1 | 0 | |||
| ALL RETURNS | Punts | Kickoffs | Intercept | ||||||
| No | Yds | Lg | No | Yds | Lg | No | Yds | Lg | |
| Brandon Jones | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 28 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| James Montgomery | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 78 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcus Richmond | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 130 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ALL PURPOSE | Rush | Rcv | KR | PR | IR | Total | |||
| James Montgomery | 118 | 10 | 78 | 0 | 0 | 206 | |||
| Jeff Solomon | 0 | 71 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 71 | |||
| Jeshua Anderson | 0 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 | |||
| Daniel Blackledge | 7 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | |||
| Totals | 125 | 172 | 78 | 0 | 0 | 375 |
INDIVIDUAL OFFENSIVE STATISTICS
| HAWAII | |||||||||
| RUSHING | No. | Gain | Loss | Net | TD | Lg | Avg. | ||
| Alex Green | 9 | 66 | 7 | 59 | 1 | 44 | 6.6 | ||
| Leon Wright-Jackson | 4 | 34 | 0 | 34 | 1 | 26 | 8.5 | ||
| Jayson Rego | 3 | 17 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 9 | 5.7 | ||
| Greg Alexander | 3 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 3.7 | ||
| Inoke Funaki | 4 | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 8 | 2.8 | ||
| Bryant Moniz | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2.0 | ||
| Chizzy Dimude | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.0 | ||
| Totals | 26 | 148 | 11 | 137 | 2 | 44 | 5.3 | ||
| PASSING | Cmp-Att-Int | Yds | TD | Long | Sack | ||||
| Greg Alexander | 26-36-0 | 453 | 3 | 73 | 1 | ||||
| Bryant Moniz | 1-1-0 | 36 | 0 | 36 | 0 | ||||
| Totals | 27-37-0 | 489 | 3 | 73 | 1 | ||||
| RECEIVING | No. | Yds | TD | Lg | |||||
| Kealoha Pilares | 8 | 69 | 0 | 23 | |||||
| Greg Salas | 7 | 195 | 1 | 61 | |||||
| Rodney Bradley | 7 | 150 | 2 | 73 | |||||
| Jovonte Taylor | 3 | 28 | 0 | 16 | |||||
| Jon Medeiros | 1 | 36 | 0 | 36 | |||||
| Leon Wright-Jackson | 1 | 11 | 0 | 11 | |||||
| Totals | 27 | 489 | 3 | 73 | |||||
| PUNTING | No. | Yds | Avg | Long | In20 | TB | |||
| Alex Dunnachie | 4 | 101 | 25.3 | 37 | 0 | 0 | |||
| ALL RETURNS | Punts | Kickoffs | Intercept | ||||||
| No | Yds | Lg | No | Yds | Lg | No | Yds | Lg | |
| Ryan Henry | 3 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jovonte Taylor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 67 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Spencer Smith | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Mana Silva | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Mana Lolotai | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kealoha Pilares | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 3 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 107 | 27 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| ALL PURPOSE | Rush | Rcv | KR | PR | IR | Total | |||
| Greg Salas | 0 | 195 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 195 | |||
| Rodney Bradley | 0 | 150 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 150 | |||
| Kealoha Pilares | 0 | 69 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 96 | |||
| Jovonte Taylor | 0 | 28 | 67 | 0 | 0 | 95 | |||
| Totals | 0 | 442 | 94 | 0 | 0 | 536 |
WASHINGTON STATE
| |||
| TACKLES | |||
| PLAYER | SOLO | AST | T |
| Hoffman-Ellis | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| Nwachukwu | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| Hicks | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Simmons | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Jones | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Beck | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Mattingly | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Long | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Feagin | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Daniels | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Bland | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Forzani | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Stripling | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| McCartney | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Ledgerwood | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Hamlett | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Hayward | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Solomon | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Turpin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
HAWAII
| |||
| TACKLES | |||
| PLAYER | SOLO | AST | T |
| Paredes | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| Soares | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Davis | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| Heun | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Silva | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Smith | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Bryant | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Tufaga | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Brown | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Purcell | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Hopkins | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Clore | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Ornellas | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Satele | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Kiesel-Kauhane | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Wadsworth | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Lolotai | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Alexander | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Hanohano | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Estes | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Correa | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Falemalu | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Torres | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Savaiigaea | 0 | 1 | 1 |
