What, you thought this would be easy?
In a season in which very little has come without struggle for the Hawaii football team, it was altogether fitting that its final regular-season victory and the apparent path to a bowl game would be arduous.
The game that should launch the Rainbow Warriors to their first bowl berth in six years, a 46-40 victory over Massachusetts, was not secured until the final 1 minute, 5 seconds Saturday night with a defensive stand inside their 21-yard line.
Not until a last-gasp fourth-and-11 pass fell incomplete in the end zone without the appearance of a 13th penalty flag did the ’Bows or their fans finally heave a sigh of relief.
Only then, after a night of stirring fourth-down conversions and penalty setbacks, did the spirited celebrations break out on the field and in the stands at Aloha Stadium.
“We tend to make it hard for ourselves,” acknowledged quarterback Dru Brown, who saw both sides of it with a career-high five touchdown passes and a lost fumble. “I’m just glad that we got this win.”
The sixth victory against seven losses for a team that started the season with three defeats in its first four games should result in a bid to the Hawaii Bowl, perhaps as soon as Monday.
Normally, at least a 6-6 record is required for bowl eligibility but because a glut of 40 bowls is expected to leave three of the 80 slots unfilled by what the NCAA terms “deserving teams,” UH is expected to receive an invitation.
“If invited we will choose the Hawaii Bowl,” said athletic director David Matlin, standing on bowl decorum but betrayed by a wide smile.
Knowing his team’s penchant for doing things the hard way, rookie head coach Nick Rolovich detoured the team buses to Nuuanu Pali on Saturday, site of the 1795 battle where King Kamehameha I united Oahu under his rule, for a history lesson and motivational session.
“I wanted our guys to understand what had happened there 221 years ago and that if someone was going to go off the cliff (Saturday) night it was up to us who it would be,” Rolovich said. “A lot of our guys have never been up there and I wanted them to also understand who they were playing for.”
Linebacker Jahlani Tavai said, “The message that Coach gave us before the game was to fight to the very end. He wanted us to know that we had to earn the win. And that’s what we did with that defensive stand.”
Tavai said, “We did it for the seniors and for our fans. They were our 12th man and they were loud. I don’t know what the attendance was, but they made a lot of noise and it lifted us and made it hard for (UMass’) quarterback.”
The ’Bows needed all the help they could get in the season’s most protracted skirmish, a 3-hour, 40-minute tug-of-war with the now 2-10 Minutemen. Nearly every point UMass scored was aided by a penalty or turnover.
And, again, the ’Bows were lacking in third-down situations, converting just three of 13.
More remarkably, the heretofore automatic place-kicker, Rigo Sanchez, missed his first kick of the season, a point-after attempt after 12 perfect field goals and 42 spot-on PATs.
But these Rainbow Warriors made good on their fourth-down tries, going 4-for-4. Freshman Ben Scruton’s 14-yard scamper on fourth and 7 from the UH 46-yard line helped set up their penultimate score.
On a night when the ’Bows did it their way — the hard way — it would be symbolic indeed.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
