San Diego State, Santos Strike Late for Win in Hawaii

San Diego State scored 15 points in a span of one minute 58 seconds late in the fourth quarter Saturday night and got its second straight victory for the first time in a year when it defeated Hawaii, 29-21, in a Western Athletic Conference game in front of 35,462 in Aloha Stadium.

Quarterback Todd Santos completed 29 of 40 passes, including a touchdown pass and an extra-point conversion with 3:08 left that gave San Diego State (3-6, 2-3) the lead for good.

Santos, who threw for 373 yards, passed four yards to Paul Hewitt for a touchdown that cut Hawaii’s lead to 21-20. It was Hewitt’s third score of the game--he scored earlier on two one-yard runs.

Then, after a timeout, the Aztecs made a two-point conversion when Santos threw to Monty Gilbreath for a 22-21 lead.

Denny Stolz, the Aztecs’ coach, said: “Our record is not conducive to going for a tie.”

Santos led the Aztecs, ranked sixth nationally in total offense, to their second exciting finish in as many games. Last week, SDSU rallied for 19 fourth-quarter points in a 52-42 victory over Cal State Long Beach.

He moved into third place on the NCAA career passing list, 210 yards shy of Kevin Sweeney’s record (10,623) with three games left. Doug Flutie is second with 10,579.

But what most pleased SDSU coaches Saturday was the play of the defense. It shut down Hawaii (4-4, 2-3) most of the game.

“Obviously we always move the ball quite a bit and when they (the defense) play well, we have a chance to win,” Stolz said. “And they certainly played well.”

The defense stopped Hawaii on four downs at the Rainbow 44 after SDSU took the 22-21 lead. Four plays later running back Ron Slack gave the Aztecs a commanding lead with a 23-yard touchdown with 1:10 left.

“This was very overdue,” said Tim McConnell, the Aztecs’ defensive coordinator. “This was the first good defensive game we’ve had all season.”

Santos said: “We really needed that. They’d been kind of struggling.”

SDSU hadn’t allowed fewer than 25 points in its last nine games dating to 1986. The Aztecs had given up an average of 40.9 points per game this season--189th among the 192 teams that play NCAA Division I-A and I-AA football.

“To say that we were happy with our defense (against Hawaii) was an understatement,” McConnell said. “Thrilled to death is more like it.”

Defensive end Brett Faryniarz had 14 tackles, including three of the Aztecs’ nine sacks. Tackle Milt Wilson and end Kevin Maultsby, getting his first start, had two sacks each. The Aztecs had managed just 15 sacks in 8 previous games.

“There was something different about this game--(the defense) was pumped,” McConnell said.

“It was pride--they got over here and every time they opened a paper, they read about how bad they were supposed to be,” said Bob Warner, Hawaii coach.

The Aztecs turned the ball over five times--twice on first-half interceptions of Santos at the goal line. SDSU also had a touchdown called back on one of six first-quarter penalties and missed on a 35-yard field goal attempt.

“We had, God only knows, how many chances,” Stolz said.

But when the Aztecs needed it, they finally found their defense.

NCAA ALL-TIME CAREER PASSING LEADERS

Name School Years Yards Kevin Sweeney Fresno State 1982-86 10,623 Doug Flutie Boston College 1981-84 10,579 Todd Santos SDSU 1984- 10,413 Brian McClure Bowling Green 1982-85 10,280 Ben Bennett Duke 1980-83 9,614