Cannon booms?

Cheer squad push-ups?

When it comes to celebrating touchdowns, the Hawaii football team does it the new-fashioned way: a chest bump between 210-pound holder Stan Gaudion and 310-pound center Taaga Tuulima.

The ritual — performed 49 times this season — is part of the unabashed enthusiasm of scoring a touchdown and preparing for the extra-point kick.

“Stan gets excited when we score a touchdown,” said Ryan Meskell, who has converted all 49 PATs this season. Meskell made five field goals in a row before an attempt was deflected against UNLV on Saturday. Meskell credits any success to the blockers, long-snapper Wyatt Tucker and his housemate.

“If Stan doesn’t get the ball down, if he drops it, there’s no field goal,” Meskell said of the only holder he has had during his three-year UH career. “He’s the best holder. It’s common knowledge. He doesn’t miss a spot. He has the laces facing the right way all the time.”

In advance of Saturday’s game against San Diego State, with the Mountain West’s West Division title at stake, UH coach Nick Rolovich said the Rainbow Warriors need to excel in every phase. That means, according to special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial, making the most of every scoring opportunity. “One or three points,” Ghobrial said of the place-kicking unit, “they take it with the highest regard.”

It appeared unlikely two Australians who grew up in separate states would form a holder-kicker combo at UH. Meskell had never played in an American football game until joining the Warriors in August 2017. Gaudion, a fourth-year junior, was recruited solely as a punter.

Gaudion recalled a 2016 conversation with Mayur Chaudhari, who was UH’s special teams coordinator at the time. Chaudhari pointed out that the punt unit was summoned after an offense stalled.

“Coach Mayur told me when you’re the punter, no one likes when you go on the field,” Gaudion said, “and only rarely do you celebrate when you’re a punter. If you become the field-goal holder, you get to have a happy play five, 10 times a game, depending on how many touchdowns we score. I started holding when Mayur told me it was a positive play I could be involved in.”

For Gaudion, punting came easily. During his UH career, he is averaging 41.0 yards, and only one of his 125 punts has resulted in a touchback. But Gaudion trained extensively to work on his holding. From a crouch, he catches the snap from Tucker, turns the laces forward, and places the football at a slight angle.

During the early stages, Gaudion and Meskell practiced in the lounge area of the Kaimuki house they shared with three other teammates. Former UH defensive lineman Max Hendrie would toss a football to Gaudion.

“He’d get it down, and I’d come in and pretend to kick it,” Meskell said. “We were trying to get in as much work as we could.”

Gaudion said: “I’d hold it, like, a hundred times, so it would be good to go the next day in practice.”

Ghobrial, who is in his 11th year of coaching, including his second with UH, said Gaudion “might be the one of the best holders I’ve ever been around. He’s consistent finding the spot, consistent holding the ball. Part of it is the chemistry he has with Ryan. They’re best friends.”

Gaudion is not sure when his chest-bumping routine began with Tuulima. “As the offense is running off the field (following a touchdown) and we’re running on, he knows it’s coming every time,” Gaudion said. “I run straight to him. I’m sure one of these days he’ll knock me over.”