Hawaii’s defense rallied around a fallen Warrior to repel the enemy threat.

When starting UH nose tackle Moses Samia went down on the Aloha Stadium field with a right knee injury in the second quarter, it coincided with Lamar’s only push into Warriors territory with the game’s outcome still in doubt.

UH, incensed and inspired by those events, held the Cardinals to a single yard of total offense the rest of the half en route to a 54-2 win in their home opener on Saturday.

"I guess after Mo went down, it kind of lit a fire under our butts," said senior defensive lineman and captain Paipai Falemalu, who recovered a fumble and had two of UH’s 12 tackles for loss. "You know, one of our brothers is down and we gotta keep playing for him. He’s not able to play the rest of this game, so we had to fight for him. Keep pushing for him. He played a big role in that, on the defense."

Lamar, an FCS school of the Southland Conference, would not advance its offense into UH territory again until garbage time in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals were held to 127 yards of total offense in the near shutout — their only points were on a return of a fumbled UH PAT attempt in the final period.

After the game, there was concern that Samia’s injury was more than just a game-ender.

Samia, a 6-foot-1, 295-pound sophomore out of Saint Louis School, said he’d have an MRI to check for damage today.

"Right now I’m just hoping it’s nothing serious," he said outside of the UH locker rooms.

Defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer tried to be optimistic afterward.

"That’s obviously a big loss, having him go down," Kaumeyer said. "We got three guys rotating in there, but hopefully Mo can come back.

"I don’t know (his status). It’s not good when you have to get carried off."

In general, the UH defense denied just about every aspect of Lamar’s attack two weeks after being bombarded through the air in a 49-10 blowout at then-No. 1 USC. This time, the Warriors responded well when cornered.

When the Cardinals finally advanced the ball past midfield with about 10 minutes left in the second quarter, Lamar threatened in a hurry. It took the ball from its own 44 and in two plays advanced it to the UH 29 on a 13-yard pass and 14-yard scramble by quarterback Ryan Mossakowski.

Then Samia went down.

From there, the Warriors earned a holding call on Lamar, denied Mossakowski positive yardage on a scramble, then pressured an incomplete on another pass on third and 19.

That would be the closest they would come on offense with the game in doubt.

"I think guys did step up," Kaumeyer said. "Moses is a hard worker. He’s a big part of our defense, why they weren’t getting any yardage. So, it’s going to be a loss for us, obviously, losing a starter. But we’re hoping our guys rally back."

Senior Haku Correa filled in admirably for Samia from that point on.

"It was no dropoff from Mo. Haku came in, stepped up and played his role," Falemalu said.

Sophomore safety Bubba Poueu-Luna stuck Mossakowski for his first career sack with 6:40 to play in the second, one of three for UH.