Sports Watch
DON'T let anybody tell you otherwise. When the University of Hawaii plays BYU at Aloha Stadium, it's not just another football game. BYU always brings out the best from UH
Saturday night's game was so emotionally charged that it was hard to believe there were only 16,468 fans who braved the nasty weather, judging by the loud BYU-booing going on when the Cougars took the field.
You'd wish they'd cheer that loudly for the Rainbows. Heaven knows, they need some cheering up in a season as dreary as the weather we've been having lately.
BYU won as expected. But not as big as expected.
The 45-14 final score was not indicative of how the game went, especially since the Cougars scored three touchdowns in an 83-second span after the Rainbows had narrowed it to 24-14 late in the third quarter.
The "Bravehearts," as this year's Rainbows should be called, played gamely against a vastly superior and humongous team, one that figures to go undefeated in the Western Athletic Conference, Utah notwithstanding.
The 'Bows bent but didn't break, giving up huge chunks of yardage and first downs by the bushel full but somehow kept it so tantalizingly close that even the most pessimistic UH fans were quietly whispering to themselves, "Is it possible . . . ?"
It wasn't.
But what fun it was for a while when junior linebacker Stephen Gonzales picked off a Steve Sarkisian pass and lumbered 79 yards for a touchdown, slowly threading his way downfield with the help of key blocks by Matt Paul and Greg Roach. "Gonzo" also wowed the crowd by busting up a BYU reverse play for a 12-yard loss.
Or when the Rainbows drove 80 yards on a rare 16-play drive capped by Carlos Shaw's leaping dive into the end zone that made it 24-14.
FOR a change this season, until the final 16 minutes anyway, it was a ballgame. This was not Boise State or UNLV that the Rainbows were playing. But BYU, the 10th-ranked team in the nation.
Wipeout? What wipeout?
Heck, the Cougars even had to resort to two quarterback sneaks to get first downs. They couldn't punch across a touchdown on a first-and-goal on the 1-yard line. And they even punted five times, more than what Wyoming, San Diego State and Air Force did . . . combined.
And, for a change, the game was contested enough that it might have turned on, of all things, an onside kick, which UH coach Fred vonAppen thought was a viable try to change the game's momentum.
It was a defining moment, all right. The gamble proved costly as the Cougars scored in two plays right after that and added two more touchdowns in a twinkle of an eye after back-to-back turnovers by quarterbacks Glenn Freitas and Josh Skinner.
After that, BYU proved its point with a bunch of points.
TO LaVell Edwards' credit, he didn't run it up but had the Cougars work on their running game. The wet conditions, too, undoubtedly dictated that he take no chances of injuries to his key starters, having already lost his best returner to a knee injury.
So while there was no more scoring in the final 141/2 minutes of the game, the hard-hitting continued, and the tempers and frustrations mounted, even among the spectators.
That led to some ugly scenes in the mauka stands that even involved Freitas, who had every right to be concerned about the safety of his parents, but wrong in going into the stands, thereby adding to the volatile situation.
Whatever the reasons that led to the melee, it was clearly because the Rainbows weren't just playing another game. But, rather, an emotionally charged one against BYU, which always seems to bring out the best or the beast in the 'Bows.