During the Christmas holidays, Leon and Kelly Cordeiro and their three sons would go to the park to toss around a football or to the beach to swim or play Spikeball.
One of the exceptions was on Christmas Eve in 2016, when they attended the Hawaii Bowl at Aloha Stadium.
“It was Hawaii vs. Middle Tennessee,” said Chevan Cordeiro, who was a Saint Louis School junior at the time. The Rainbow Warriors “weren’t doing very well in the first half, but they came back to win. That game was electric. Just seeing that, it was really fun.”
Chevan Cordeiro went on to play quarterback for the Warriors for four seasons before transferring to San Jose State at the end of the 2021 season. Now Cordeiro will play his final college game when the Spartans face Coastal Carolina in today’s EasyPost Hawaii Bowl at the Ching Complex.
“It means a lot,” Cordeiro said of completing his NCAA career in the state where he was reared. As the designated home team, the Spartans also will use the Warriors’ locker room.
Sunscreen was part of the balm in helping the Spartans get over the sting of not playing in the Mountain West’s championship game. San Jose State, Boise State and UNLV finished in a three-way tie with 6-2 league records. But a computer formula determined Boise State and UNLV would meet for the title.
A few days later, the Spartans received an invitation to the Hawaii Bowl. Head coach Brent Brennan, who got his coaching start as UH’s receivers coach in 1998, announced the bowl invitation at a team meeting when he walked into the room wearing sunglasses and board shorts while holding a surfboard.
It also will be a happy homecoming for SJSU kicker Kyler Halvorsen, who transferred from UH at the end of the 2022 season. Halvorsen, a Kaiser High alumnus, has endured a grade-2 tear in his right quadriceps that has hindered his kick-off ability. But the injury has healed, and the Spartans’ point-scoring kicker will now add kickoffs to his duties.
Since the end of the regular season, both teams have lost key players to the transfer portal. SJSU left tackle Fernando Carmona and tight end Dominick Mazotti will not play in today’s bowl.
“Whatever those young men and their families think is best for them, I support it,” Brennan said. “We’re excited with who’s here and ready to play in this game. The players have given so much. … We’re so excited these guys have chosen to play.”
Several Coastal Carolina players entered the transfer portal, including quarterbacks Grayson McCall and Jarrett Guest and receiver Jared Brown. McCall, who had not played since suffering an injury in CCU’s seventh game, is heading to North Carolina State. McCall was the Sun Belt’s three-time Player of the Year.
“Their journey is their journey, it’s not mine,” Coastal Carolina coach Tim Beck said. “It’s hard to understand sometimes why they do what they do, but it’s their life and it’s their choice. Our job is to put the best 11 out on the field and coach them as hard as we can, prepare them as well as we can, and have fun with the guys who are here and not worry about the guys who aren’t.”
CCU’s chartered plane experienced delays, extending the nonstop flight to 13 hours from Myrtle Beach, S.C., to Honolulu on Monday. But the Chanticleers were enthused about competing.
“Grew up watching this on Christmas Eve every year,” Beck said. “What a great tradition, great games that have been played. We’re excited to be a part of that first Sun Belt Conference team to be able to do that.”
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>> 5:30 p.m. Saturday
>> Ching Complex
>> ESPN , 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
