Warriors defense learned its lesson well against Rice

Trayvon Henderson and the Hawaii defense benefited from a helping of Rice on Saturday night.

The Rainbow Warriors applied lessons learned from the previous week’s loss to the Rice Owls to scrap for a come-from-behind 38-28 win over Wyoming at Aloha Stadium, UH’s first Mountain West Conference victory in two years.

The sophomore safety Henderson led the way defensively with two fourth-quarter interceptions, including one on a desperation downfield heave by Cowboys quarterback Colby Kirkegaard with 1:46 to play. He had a team-high eight solo tackles, including a first-half sack of Kirkegaard, the first of his career.

"Oh man, it felt real good to see our team play," Henderson said. "We learned from our last game playing Rice, we had them beat in the first half and then all they did was kept fighting. So our defense had that mentality. Just keep on fighting. Keep giving our offense a chance, and they’ll eventually come through for us."

UH gave up two touchdowns in the game’s first six minutes (one was a fumble return for a score) but gradually played up from there. Last week’s major letdown — 21 points allowed in the second half — wasn’t repeated.

Henderson got his first pick of the season on Wyoming’s opening drive of the final quarter. The defensive line hurried Kirkegaard into an errant throw over the middle and Henderson slid into the ball on his knees.

"Our coaches always tell us that we’re interconnected," he said. "If the (line) gets good pressure, then the DBs might get an interception. If we have good coverage, then the D-linemen have a chance to get sacks. So I don’t really take credit for that interception. Our D-line did a good job."

His second interception of the game and fifth career touched off a raucous celebration on the UH sideline and in the stadium stands. The 1-4 season start no longer registered. The 1-0 conference record did.

"What a way to end the game. Like, that was so close," lineman Beau Yap said. "We had to catch up, come from behind to win. Man, it’s surreal to finally get a win, especially (first) in the Mountain West in two years. It’s great."

UH held UW to 322 yards of total offense, 16 below its season average. Only 93 of those yards came after halftime, when the Rainbow Warriors rallied from 11 points down.

Typically, it had been opponents like Rice doing the rallying.

"It was like never before," Henderson said. "We never really had that type of energy late in that game. Usually, something happens and we end up losing that game. So it felt real good."

It was the fifth straight game UH forced multiple turnovers. The last UH player to record two interceptions in a game was John Hardy-Tuliau against UNLV on Nov. 24, 2012.

Yap was grateful to have Henderson around. Henderson, who led UH in interceptions with three as a freshman, missed two games this season (vs. Northern Iowa and at Colorado) with a mild ankle injury. He made his return against Rice.

"It’s like a comfort thing for the front seven, because we know we have all our guys in the back, in the secondary," Yap said. "And he’s a great run stopper. He’s a big (6-foot, 190-pound) safety; he’s like a linebacker. He’ll come up and hit you in the backfield. It’s just great to have him back and fully healthy."

Henderson’s eight tackles tied him for team-high honors with fellow safety Taz Stevenson and linebacker Benetton Fonua, who made his first start of the season.

When Henderson came down with the game-sealing interception, it was an unfamiliar — and welcome — feeling.

"Only thing was going through my head was, ‘it’s time to celebrate,’ " he said.