Post Game Quotes
Hawai‘i vs. Navy
Nov. 28, 2009
UH Head Coach Greg McMakin
“I’m very proud of our players and coaching staff. It was an exhausting game..a heck of a chess match. I’m proud of our defense, they played with discipline and focus. Blaze (Soares) made some heroic hits. Our kicking team gave us good field position all game. We accomplished our goals.”
“Last week in practice we were very focused. I challenged the players to play 60 minutes of focused football and they rose to the occasion. We’ve got something to play for, and the players know that. We’re playing for Hawai‘i! These fans live for us, they live through us. Tonight we fought for the people of Hawai‘i, for our house. It was great to have the noise back. After the game we waved and shook hands with the fans and they gave me a microphone. It was amazing feeling!”
UH linebacker Blaze Soares
“Wow. I’m very excited. A lot of people doubted us but we proved them wrong. This was a top caliber team coming into Hawai‘i but we stepped it up and rose to the occasion. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished. We got one more big game coming up, so let’s go!”
On the defensive play…
“Coach Mack gave us a good speech. He told us that this is the type of offense that will run for hundreds of yards. But not tonight. They’re a team that will eat up the clock, but not this night. It was a real motivational speech and when we went out on the field we played with that mentality. We started off quick. We thought it would take us two or three series to figure out the pace but the energy and adrenaline and the crowd helped us to play fundamentally sound.”
UH safety Mana Silva
“We had to set the tone initially off the first couple drives. We played very disciplined and it went well. The last drive of the game I couldn’t even hear the coach. The fans were great!”
UH wide receiver Greg Salas
On the fans…
“I love making big plays and seeing the fans go crazy. That’s why we play, to make people happy. Their out there cheering us on and screaming their heads off. That fourth quarter was crazy! Coming up with big stops on defense and hearing the crowd go nuts. We want to thank them for their support. It was amazing.”
Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo
“We’re crushed right now. This is home, and UH is my school, but I’m coaching Navy now, and I’ve got a group of kids in there that are heartbroken. It was a hard fought game.”
“It was a great game, it was a great battle. Most of our games are like this. You’ve got to give Hawai‘i credit. They made enough plays there at the end and were able to pull out a victory. I thought our kids battled; our guys played hard, too, but (Hawai‘i) made maybe a few more plays than we did.”
“(Hawai‘i) had a nice plan, the kids executed well. I’m not going to make excuses. We’ve got to give them credit. I wish we could have played better, did better than how we did, but give Hawai‘i credit.”
“The crowd definitely played a factor. We got a little frazzled there, didn’t execute any of our stuff very well, we didn’t get things set.”
“Defensively I thought we played well to start the game, but offensively, we didn’t show up all night. But again, we didn’t play well offensively, but you also give credit to (Hawai‘i’s) defense.”
