John Hardy-Tuliau is pretty good at blocking things. Punts, kicks, and perhaps most importantly on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium, missed opportunities from his mind.
The Hawaii sophomore safety kicked himself for dropping a golden interception chance in the first quarter, then kicked his play up a notch. He redeemed himself in short order by blocking a New Mexico State punt into the hands of teammate Kamalani Alo, who scooped and scored from 13 yards out for some much-needed breathing room in UH’s 45-34 win on homecoming night.
First Hardy-Tuliau had to pick himself up off the Aloha Stadium turf, where he lay in frustration for several seconds after Matt Christian’s downfield pass into his gut fell harmlessly to the ground.
Once NMSU went into punt formation on the drive, a full blitz was called. The 5-foot-11 Hardy-Tuliau, a staple of UH’s special teams — dubbed "Strike Force" — darted in from the right to perfectly catch a slow-to-react Jake Capraro as he attempted to boot the ball.
"I needed to come back from that one and try to make up for that play," Hardy-Tuliau said with a chuckle. "TJ (Taimatuia) shot the gap with me, I dipped my shoulder through, and put my nose on the ball." He put his hands together in the stance. "Kamalani made a good play … it was a great boost for our team, for our Strike Force."
UH built a 14-0 lead off the play with 1:55 left in the period and narrowly protected its advantage the rest of the way.
"It was huge (at that time) because we were having trouble," UH special teams coach Dick Tomey said. "That got us jump-started."
Of Hardy-Tuliau, Tomey said: "He’s just got a knack for it." He added seven tackles, two pass breakups and a quarterback hurry.
It was the first UH touchdown on a blocked punt return since Keith Bhonapha ran one in at SMU almost exactly a decade ago, on Oct. 6, 2001.
It figured that Hardy-Tuliau would be the reason UH ended that dry spell. He came out of Vista Murrieta High as a renowned blocker, knocking down 26 kicks as a varsity player, a California record.
It was his second blocked kick of the season, and first blocked punt of his college career. His previous one was a rejected PAT vs. Louisiana Tech. He also came up clutch with a fourth-quarter rejection of a field goal at Army last season.
The Temecula, Calif., native explained punt blocking is a different art than leaping for a field goal or PAT.
"To block a punt you gotta keep going full speed, you can’t jump," Hardy-Tuliau said. "And you gotta make the nose (hand formation)."
The Warriors were victimized by blocked kicks the previous week in a one-point loss at San Jose State. It admittedly helped morale to see one going the other way.
"It came my way and I was happy to pick it up and score," Alo said of his first career touchdown. "To finally come across and actually get a block on our part, it feels good."
