NM State Aggies vs Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Football 9-25-22 Part 2

Continued from Part 1.

Halftime

Let’s quickly check the out-of-town scores.  Aggie Volleyball won.  I knew that from being there.  Aggie Soccer beat UTRGV on the road, 1-0.  Later on Sunday, they lost to SFA 2-1.  Makenna Gottschalk had a season-high 7 saves.  Loma McNeese scored both of the Aggies’ goals in those two games.  Also on the radio halftime show, Jack Nixon talked to the New Mexico AG Secretary.  He was chatting about the state’s weed crop, since it’s been legalized here.    

 

I ran to the bathroom right at the whistle and avoided the long line that forms later.  The Aggie Pride Band performed . . . Anime theme songs?  I missed the introduction, but I thought I heard that.  I didn’t recognize the tunes.  The Band actually sang the intro to one of the songs (not words, just the melody).  That was cool.         

 

The Cheerleaders came up into the crowd selling cowbells.  I wonder if this is a fund-raiser, as they were also selling them at a table out front.  I happily purchased one to the chagrin of Ron, who does not appreciate this Aggie tradition.  He actually got up and left for part of the third quarter, perhaps sensing what was to come.  The group of Cheerleaders that performed in front of us disappeared for the start of the quarter. 

 

Third Quarter

Quick recap, it was 35-10 with the Aggies in the lead.  They would receive to start the half.  A couple of penalties sabotaged the Aggie drive.  Hawaii began their first possession of the half.  They got a quick first down.  On the next set of downs, they reached third down.  Oh my God!  The cacophony that erupted from the deployment of a bunch of extra cowbells was completely deafening.  I couldn’t hear anything for a few seconds afterward.  Anyway, it somewhat worked.  There was an incomplete pass that was nearly intercepted.

 

I’d noticed a nice healthy-looking family of four come in at the start of the game in masks.  I kept noticing them, because they kept going back up to the Concessions.  They’d eat and drink and put the masks back on.  No further comment necessary.  We’d lost about half of the Student Section.  It was past their bedtime or they needed to study. 

 

Lawrence Dixon had a big punt return for 37 yards that started the Aggies off in Hawaii territory.  They kept it on the ground for the whole series with mostly Star Thomas doing the rushing.  Ahmonte Watkins punched it in for a touchdown.  42-10 Aggies. 

 

We found the Cheerleaders.  They performed in the endzone at the north end of the stadium.  (We were in the south end.)  The Sundancers had performed in the first half.  On the sidelines, a couple of players practiced blocking techniques.  There was another t-shirt toss into the crowd.  This time on our end of the stadium.  Walking around in the crowd was Aggie Basketball star Jabari Rice.  He’s not hard to recognize, especially when he’s wearing a jersey with his name on it.  He also had a purse.  Ron said it was a “man-purse.”  I’ll take his word for it.

 

Hawaii started their series getting a first down.  The cowbells came out for third down and caused a false start.  On the replay of the down, Brayden Schager was hit, but managed to get a pass off for the first down.  One of their players was also injured on the play.  HI got another first down off a pass and then had another false start.  With fourth down on the Aggie 16, HI went for it and Jalen Walthall caught a pass down the middle for a touchdown.  42-17 Aggies.

 

First play of the next Aggie drive, Gavin Frakes put one up downfield and was intercepted.  The ball was a bit underthrown.  HI took over on the Aggie 40.  Before the quarter ended, they’d made a fourth-and-four to continue the drive.

 

Fourth Quarter

The Cheerleaders performed during the break.  During Kiss-Cam, the girls fake kissed for the camera.  Back to play, Schager was hit on a fourth-and-two, but still completed the pass for the first down.  Chris Ojoh had three tackles on the drive, including one for a loss that seemed finally stop the drive.  HI settled for a field goal.  42-20 Aggies.

 

The Aggies took a quick timeout as HI set up for an onside kick.  Ojoh would come up with the ball on the kick.  He was wearing a different jersey and number on the play.  Him having to change shirts might have been the reason for the timeout.  Timothy Gans ran for a couple of first downs.  There was an Aggie penalty on first-and-goal.  Frakes’ helmet came off on a rush and he had to come out.  Diego Pavia came in for him.  He made a nice fade pass into the endzone, but it was broken up.  Brett Money made the 26-yard field goal to make it 45-20 Aggies.

 

The Student Section was mostly gone by now, but the rest of the crowd was still there, probably mostly for the fireworks show.  We were all singing along with a Journey song over the PA during the break.  (I forgot the song and didn’t write it down.)  On the way to Volleyball this morning, Ron was listening to them in this car. 

 

Hawaii was still fighting.  They got 40 yards on a flea-flicker pass.  Schager passed for another first down and got HI deep into Aggie territory.  They lost another player to injury that stopped the drive as the player was attended to.  Coach Kill came over ask about him or offering help at one point.  After the player had been taken off, the Cheerleaders played with Wave the Wonder Dog and got their pictures with him during the break. 

 

An Offsides on the Aggie defense continued the drive.  HI made a fourth-and-two, but lost another player to injury.  There was an Interference call in the endzone that gave HI another down closer to the goal.  I thought it looked like good coverage.  There was a face mask on the next play by the same player, who was pulled out afterward.  Even on the Aggie 1 yard line, HI still had to go to fourth down to finally score on a shovel pass.  There was a sack on the two-point conversion.  There was no onside kick with only a minute-and-a-half left.  Pavia came back out to QB.  After a handoff and two kneel downs, the Aggies won it 45-26.

 

The Aggies rushed into the stands on the north end.  They then did a lap around the stadium and slapped hands with fans on the railing.  Hawaii went over and saluted their fans before leaving the field.  “Hey Coach, can we watch the fireworks?”  “Fireworks are for winners!”  (In fairness, the Aggies left before the show, too.)  With the game over, I finally admitted to Ron that I’d seen lightning flashes to the southwest of the stadium.  I didn’t want to say anything, because I thought if I denied it, we might not have another long lightning delay.  Hey, it worked. 

 

The fireworks started five minutes after the game.  The stadium lights went out and it was about a 15-minute show.  A bunch of kids were playing out on the field.  After the show, a couple of people at the top of the stairs had their phone lights on to guide people.  The stadium lights did eventually come back on.  The Aggie Pride Band was playing everyone out.  On the concourse, Jabari Rice was there sitting on a wall.  People were coming up and saying, “Hi,” which we did.  I got to shake hands with him.  Ron and I listened to the Aggie postgame call-in show on the way back, and I kept listening when I was back home.                  

 

From the radio, I learned that this was the Aggies’ first win over Hawaii.  How did they do it?  Very simply, just eyeballing it, the Aggie Offensive and Defensive lines were bigger than Hawaii’s.  That’s hard to believe, but true.  The other thing was that Coach Kill did what Coach Jordan did in Volleyball today: they settled on a line up and stuck with it. 

 

We’ll give a gameball to HI QB, Brayden Schager.  He made some good plays under pressure.  For the Aggies, Jamoni Jones had two touchdowns, and Star Thomas ran for 144 yards with a touchdown.  Kicker, Brett Money was 7 for 7.  On defense, Chris Ojoh had 10 solo tackles and 14 total with assists.  And thanks for talking me into coming to the game, Chris.