Cougars Outlast Warriors; Home Win Streak at 10

PROVO, UTAH--The BYU football team mounted a 35-32 come-from-behind, marathon victory against Hawaii Friday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium, extending their current home win streak to 10 straight games.

The win was also a memorable milestone for BYU head coach Gary Crowton, it was his 50th career game as a head coach and increased his all-time record to 35-15 (.70).

Crowton said, "A win is good, I don't care if it is one point or 50. If you win it goes in the win column."

Hawaii head coach June Jones said, "I think Gary Crowton is about the best coach around, he does a great job with his kids and they play hard."

The Cougars and Warriors came out ready to play from the start of the game. However, in the first quarter Hawaii managed to shutout the Cougars and built a 10-point lead. It marked only the eighth time in the previous 60 quarters of play that the Cougars failed to score in a quarter.

Crowton said, "I am glad that one's over. There was a lot of hype for that game. I knew that (Hawaii) would come in ready, and it was going to be a tough game."

Jones was not surprised with the way the game went, he said, "It was the kind of game we thought it was going to be. We thought it would come down to the very end and it did."

Quarterback Bret Engemann threw for 226 yards on 21-46 passing and one touchdown, but the Cougars had trouble moving the ball all night, totaling only 394 yards of total offense on the night.

Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang recorded 277 yards on the night with 20-52 passing, no touchdowns and four interceptions. The Warriors moved the ball a little better posting 455 yards of total offense.

Jones defended Chang's play and said, "Timmy (Chang) was not 100 percent, his (injured) finger is still bothering him. He did a lot of good things tonight when we had to make a play, he did."

A big problem all night for both teams was converting on third down. Last week the Cougars managed to convert on 11-18 third downs, tonight however the Cougars managed only 7-20 third down attempts, and Hawaii did not fair any better going 7-18 on their third down conversion attempts.

Crowton said, "I think offensively we made a lot of mistakes, it seems like we miss some easy throws and catches especially early."

The inability to advance the ball and get a first down led the Cougars and Warriors to go for it on fourth down a total of nine times. The Cougars converted on 3-6 fourth downs, while Hawaii converted on 2-3 fourth downs.

A bright spot for the Cougars offense came in the second quarter when Bret Engemann, behind the running of Marcus Whalen, drove the Cougars down the field 65 yards for the first touchdown of the game for BYU.

On that drive, Whalen carried the ball eight out of the 11 plays for the Cougars for 40 yards and ran it in from one yard out to bring the Cougars within three at 7-10.

Whalen ran for 141 yards on the night, with a career-high 30 carries and two touchdowns. He has now ran for at least 140 yards in back-to-back games.

The Warriors quickly answered with a 44-yard drive on six plays. Running back Thero Mitchell carried the ball in from four yards out to extend the Warrior lead to 10 again at 17-7.

But before the end of the half, the Cougars would mount another attack putting together drive which saw Engemann go 4-6 for 56 yards, rush for 12 more yards and top it off with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Toby Christensen and bring the Cougars within three at halftime.

The third quarter belonged to the Cougars as Hawaii was shutout and the Cougars took a 28-17 lead, and never looked back.

The Cougar defense posted two more interceptions in the quarter, including the second pick of the night for walk-on BYU cornerback Kip Nielson. The last Cougar to record two interceptions in one game was Jernaro Gilford last season against the New Mexico Lobos.

In all the Cougars put up 14 points thanks to Chang's four thrown interceptions.

After running from the Hawaii defense all night, Engemann had to leave the game late in the fourth quarter and did not return.

Reserve quarterback Lance Pendleton took over for BYU and scored the second touchdown of his career to put the Cougars up 35-24. Pendleton's first touchdown of his career came in the previous quarter, and gave the Cougars their first lead of the game at 20-17.

Hawaii quarterback Jason Whieldon threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Britton Komine in the closing minutes of the game, but the a final Cougar intercetion by linebacker Levi Madarieta secured the win for the Cougars as the team would kneel out the final seconds of the game.

After the game Jones said, "I like coming to Provo, it is a great atmosphere and (BYU) has a great football team. I only hope that we will be able to come up here and have them come to our place, I think that would benefit us both."

Box Score (Final)
  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
  Hawai'i............. 10  7  0 15  - 32       Record: (1-1)
  Brigham Young.......  0 14 14  7  - 35       Record: (2-0)
  Scoring Summary:
  1st 08:27 HAWAII - Ayat, Justin 22 yd field goal, 6-43 1:58, 
                     HAWAII 3 - BYU 0
      06:15 HAWAII - Gossett, Neal 6 yd pass from Whieldon,Jason
                     (Ayat, Justin kick), 2-5 0:44, HAWAII 10 - BYU 0
  2nd 12:38 BYU - WHALEN, Marcus 1 yd run 
                  (PAYNE, Matt kick), 11-65 3:15, HAWAII 10 - BYU 7
      08:07 HAWAII - Mitchell, Thero 4 yd run 
                     (Ayat, Justin kick), 6-44 1:32, HAWAII 17 - BYU 7
      00:22 BYU - CHRISTENSEN, To 19 yd pass from ENGEMANN, Bret
                  (PAYNE, Matt kick), 11-80 2:55, HAWAII 17 - BYU 14
  3rd 06:51 BYU - PENDLETON, Lanc 12 yd run
                  (PAYNE, Matt kick), 10-95 2:56, HAWAII 17 - BYU 21
      02:52 BYU - WHALEN, Marcus 4 yd run
                  (PAYNE, Matt kick), 8-46 2:29, HAWAII 17 - BYU 28
  4th 14:10 HAWAII - Komine, Britton 1 yd pass from Whieldon,Jason
                     (Ayat, Justin kick), 10-70 3:42, HAWAII 24 - BYU 28
      02:36 BYU - PENDLETON, Lanc 2 yd run
                  (PAYNE, Matt kick), 6-22 2:04, HAWAII 24 - BYU 35
      00:32 HAWAII - Mitchell, Thero 2 yd run
                     (Herbert, C. pass), 11-63 2:04, HAWAII 32 - BYU 35
                                   HAWAII      BYU
  FIRST DOWNS...................       22       25
  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   30-171   48-168
  PASSING YDS (NET).............      284      226
  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  55-22-4  48-21-0
  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   85-455   96-394
  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
  Punt Returns-Yards............     2-20      0-0
  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........    5-120     3-60
  Interception Returns-Yards....      0-0      4-3
  Punts (Number-Avg)............   4-44.8   7-41.9
  Fumbles-Lost..................      0-0      1-0
  Penalties-Yards...............     7-72    11-69
  Possession Time...............    29:49    30:11
  Sacks By: Number-Yards........      1-7      0-0
  RUSHING: Hawai'i-Bass, Mike 9-92; Mitchell, Thero 13-41; Chang, Timmy 4-19;
  Withy-Allen, S. 1-16; Whieldon,Jason 1-3; Owens, Chad 1-2; Herbert, C.
  1-minus 2. Brigham Young-WHALEN, Marcus 30-141; PENDLETON, Lanc 5-26;
  ENGEMANN, Bret 6-14; MAHE, Reno 1-13; BROWN, Curtis 2-9; TM 4-minus 35.
  PASSING: Hawai'i-Chang, Timmy 20-52-4-277; Whieldon,Jason 2-3-0-7. Brigham
  Young-ENGEMANN, Bret 21-46-0-226; TM 0-1-0-0; PENDLETON, Lanc 0-1-0-0.
  RECEIVING: Hawai'i-Owens, Chad 6-72; Gossett, Neal 4-20; Colbert, Justin
  3-83; Herbert, C. 3-62; Komine, Britton 3-20; Bass, Mike 2-21; Mitchell,
  Thero 1-6. Brigham Young-MAHE, Reno 8-83; NEAD, Spencer 3-41; WHALEN, Marcus
  3-32; CHRISTENSEN, To 2-28; WILKERSON, Rod 1-13; ORD, Andrew 1-9; REID,
  Gabriel 1-7; ANDERSON, Justi 1-7; CHRISTENSEN, Da 1-6.
  INTERCEPTIONS: Hawai'i-None. Brigham Young-NIELSEN, Kip 2-0; WRIGHT, Bill
  1-0; MADARIETA, Levi 1-3.
  FUMBLES: Hawai'i-None. Brigham Young-ALLEN, James 1-0.
  Stadium: LaVell Edwards        Attendance: 63085
  Kickoff time: 5:05 pm   End of Game: 9:05 pm   Total elapsed time: 4:00
  Officials: Referee: Clair Gausman; Umpire: Gary Crum; Linesman: Tim Podraza;
  Line judge: Robert Bahne; Back judge: Terry Leyden; Field judge: Kim Nelson;
  Side judge: Ken Ludicos; Scorer: Media Relations;
  Temperature: 72        Wind: 0-2       Weather: Overcast
  SACKS (UA-A): Hawai'i-Wright, Matt 0-1; Maafala, Abu 0-1. Brigham
  Young-None.
  TACKLES (UA-A): Hawai'i-Brown, Chris 8-5; Tinoisamoa, P. 3-7; Gilmore, David
  5-3; Elimimian, A. 5-2; Butts, Sean 4-3; Peters, Hyrum 3-4; Correa, Laanui
  3-1; Wright, Matt 3-1; Millhouse, K. 2-2; LaBoy, Travis 2-1; Sopoaga, Isaac
  0-3; Ala, Houston 2-0; Bhonapha, Keith 1-1; Jackson, Kevin 1-1; Colbert,
  Justin 1-0; Noa, Kilinahe 1-0; Manners, Lono 1-0; Ayat, Justin 0-1; Alapa,
  Keani 0-1; Maafala, Abu 0-1; 1B 0-1. Brigham Young-FRANCISCO, Aaro 5-5;
  WALKENHORST, Pa 4-6; BOCKWOLDT, Colb 2-4; HEANEY, Brandon 5-0; POPPINGA,
  Brady 1-4; WRIGHT, Bill 1-4; GUNDERSON, Ryan 2-2; MADSEN, Michael 2-2;
  MEIBOS, Jared 0-3; BARNEY, Chad 2-0; KEHL, Bryan 1-1; BRANDON, Joshua 1-1;
  MADARIETA, Levi 0-2; ALBA, Micah 1-0; YOUNG, Scott 1-0; MAUGA, Ammon 1-0;
  BURBIDGE, Jon 1-0; SUMKO, Mike 1-0; ATKINSON, Bryan 1-0; PILI, Ifo 1-0;
  ALLEN, James 0-1; FARRIS, Alex 0-1.