Southern Miss’ punter did much of the heavy lifting

Peter Boehme hoisted the 60-pound Sheraton Hawaii Bowl championship trophy aloft and proudly carried it past the stands toward the Southern Mississippi locker room as fans and team members snapped celebratory pictures.

What was curious about this picture was that he isn’t the coach, quarterback, running back, receiver or even some star defensive player.

He is the Golden Eagles’ punter.

As a rule, you don’t see punters getting to carry the championship hardware, earning votes for the game’s most outstanding player award or receiving testimonials from the team’s stars.

But Boehme did, which tells you a lot about the Golden Eagles’ 24-17 victory over Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl on Saturday at Aloha Stadium.

It says it was a game of field position and defense and Boehme put his best foot forward when the Golden Eagles needed it to finish with a school record 12-2 mark.

On a day they celebrated the 10th Hawaii Bowl, the two teams combined for the fewest points (41) and most punts (17) in the bowl’s history.

The Golden Eagles wanted to get a school-record 12th victory in the worst way and that’s pretty much how they went about it for more than three quarters on a windy, wet day in Halawa. In the worst way.

A team that averaged 37.9 points a game in winning the Conference USA title and rising to No. 22 in the Associated Press poll struggled mightily with its focus and execution.

Passes sailed well beyond receivers and passes (five) were dropped. Its first score was a blocked punt return and its longest run for more than three quarters was a 29-yard bolt by the place-kicker.

Its hurry-up, spread offense was badly out of sync until the final fourth-quarter drive and got booed at a couple of points by a basically neutral gathering announced at 19,411.

Even with a seven-play, 68-yard scoring drive to take the lead on Kelvin Bolden’s 4-yard catch from Austin Davis with 5 minutes, 48 seconds remaining, Southern Miss still managed just 336 yards of total offense, a Hawaii Bowl low for victors.

Afterward, Southern Miss head coach Larry Fedora noted, "It wasn’t (the quarterback’s) best game," and then expanded his statement, adding, "I don’t know whose game it was their best game to be honest with you."

He later amended that to say, "(Boehme) sure could have been (the MVP). He put, what, five of ’em inside, what, the 10-yard line; he was real good."

Boehme averaged 43.8 yards a punt. Only one of his eight punts was returned and that went for 3 yards.

"He was huge for us," quarterback Davis said. "Big, real big" said defensive end Cordarro Law, who was voted the Golden Eagles’ player of the game.

"Just doing my job," Boehme said afterward. "Just doing what I had to do to help us win."

After helping carry the load on the field, it was altogether fitting that Boehme was given the trophy to carry off of it, too.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.