The New Mexico defense shined in Saturday’s 28-21 triumph over Hawaii, scoring late in the game to preserve the win and give the Lobos their first three-game winning streak since 2007.
The defense finished the game the way it started — by making a stop on fourth down to kill a Hawaii drive. A defensive touchdown, however, may have been the biggest play of the game.
In last week’s 59-17 win over Louisiana-Monroe, junior cornerback Jadon Boatright started the scoring with an interception return on the first drive of the game; this time safety Lee Crosby’s fumble return for touchdown proved the be the game-winner.
Head coach Bob Davie said the last two games may have answered one question the staff asked at the beginning of the season.
“Could we get to the point where we won some games on defense? We’ve strung two games together now,” the head coach said. “I was happy for our defense, our defensive coaches — never felt like Hawaii really had much rhythm.”
Saturday’s game was only the third time this season the Lobos gave up 21 points or less to opponents.
New Mexico made a couple of stops on defense and got touchdown runs by Richard McQuarley and Teriyon Gipson to start the game and take an early 14-0 lead.
Quarterback Lamar Jordan found a rhythm, connecting on his first four passes for 58 yards and also rushing for 12 yards in the first two series. But the Lobo offense stalled after that, and Hawaii took full advantage.
The Rainbow Warriors answered by marching down the field to cut the lead in half, 14-7. Quarterback Dru Brown looked sharp, completing his first three passes on the drive and keeping the ball for a six-yard touchdown run.
Just before halftime the Lobos were backed up deep in their own territory and needed a good kick from punter Corey Bojorquez. He unleashed a 56-yard boot, but return man John Ursua had a great return that gave the Rainbow Warriors a good shot to score before half.
It appeared as though the Lobos would limit the damage to three points, but Hawaii surprised New Mexico with a fake field goal, scoring on a two-yard touchdown run to tie things up 14-14 at half.
Austin Apodaca entered the game as quarterback in the second half. Davie said Hawaii probably did the best job out of any opponent on the season in terms of scheme and made the change at quarterback to spread the defense out.
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After each team punted each of their first three series’ of the second half, the move finally paid off. Tyrone Owens broke free for a 72-yard touchdown run just before the end of the third quarter to put the Lobos back on top 21-14.
But a personal foul penalty on the ensuing kickoff moved the ball out to the Hawaii 44 yard line, and the game was evened up later in the drive on a four-yard run by Hawaii’s Steven Lakalaka.
Hawaii got the ball back and were driving near midfield when it committed its first turnover of the game — a very costly one.
Senior safety Daniel Henry forced a fumble on running back Diocemy Saint Juste, and teammate Lee Crosby collected the ball and sprinted down for a 46-yard return for touchdown.
The score put the Lobos up 28-21, but Crosby’s flip into the end zone earned him an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which almost cost his team.
Hawaii set up shop near midfield with a chance to tie the game. It converted twice on fourth down to get into the red zone with about two-and-a-half minutes remaining.
But on 4th-and-1 from the New Mexico seven-yard line, the Rainbow Warriors luck ran out and defensive lineman Nik D’Avanzo stuffed Lakalaka for a huge stop.
Davie said cornerback Nias Martin removed his helmet, drawing another unsportsmanlike penalty. It was only a three-yard penalty, but it backed the Lobos up near its own goal line with the game still undecided.
New Mexico forced Hawaii to exhaust its remaining timeouts by picking up first a pair of first downs on the legs of Owens and ran out the clock to pick up a tough road victory and notch three consecutive wins for the first time under Davie.
The head coach said he was very upset about some errors on the team’s part, referencing to the pair of defensive penalties, but said the win would make the long flight home much more enjoyable.
Hawaii dropped to 4-5 on the season with a conference record of 3-2, while New Mexico improved to 5-3 and 3-1 in the Mountain West.
The win also puts the Lobos right back in the fight for the division title. They climb into a tie with Boise State for second place, but may need the Broncos to stub their toe one more time along with way since the Lobos lost a head-to-head matchup earlier in the season 49-21.
Wyoming took over first place when it stunned No.13 Boise State, 30-28 earlier on Saturday. The Cowboys are 4-0 in conference and play New Mexico in the final regular season game, which could have huge implications.
Next up for New Mexico is a home test against Nevada (3-5, 1-3 MW) on Saturday at 8:15 p.m.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers football and men’s and women’s tennis. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
