Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Hawaii Five-O Pt. 4: Give Me Some Poi Edition


The fourth part of our look back at Hawaii's 2008 Football season takes us to the Warriors contests with Boise State and Nevada.

After winning two straight over rival WAC foes, Hawaii traveled to Boise and faced the 15th ranked Broncos. The Warriors held Boise State to its lowest first-half point total of the season and trailed just 10-7 at the break. But once again turnovers would prove to be very costly to Hawaii.

The Warriors turned the ball over four times in the second half, including its first two possessions after the break, to allow the Broncos to pull away and secure their 27-7 victory. In all Hawaii's Inoke Funaki threw five interceptions with Boise State sophomore defensive back Brandyn Thompson recording three of the picks.

The Warriors came out strong on both sides of the ball to begin the game. The Warrior defense forced Boise State to punt after four offensive plays. The Hawaii offense took over on its own 14-yard line and proceeded on a 15-play drive that took nearly half the quarter. The Warriors, however, saw the drive stall deep in Bronco territory when they were stuffed on a fourth-and-one.

Hawaii once again was held under 300 yards of total offense (288) and gave up seven sacks to the Broncos.

Getting back to the island was all what the Warriors needed as Greg Alexander connected with Malcolm Lane for a 24-yard touchdown with 20 seconds remaining to lift Hawaii to a 38-31 victory over Nevada.

Alexander took the reigns of the Warrior offense after Funki went down in the first half. And Alexander didn't disappoint. The junior quarterback finished 17-of-22 from 205 yards and two touchdowns in one half’s work.

Hawaii won despite being out-gained 481-331. Hawaii had just 42 yards of offense in the first half but the Warrior defense and special teams helped the team stake a 14-10 lead at the half.

The Warriors pulled off the win after a fourth-quarter rally by the Wolf Pack. Nevada erased a 14-point deficit and tied the game with 1:31 left before Alexander's last second heroics.

Hawaii has now evened their record to 4-4 with two road contests looming at WAC doormats Utah State and New Mexico State. Will the Warriors struggle once again on the road are will they come out prevailing?

Come back tomorrow to find out!

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