Aloha also means goodbye
If Aggie fans had been told a week ago that Chuckie Keeton would be carted off the field just before halftime, Adam Kennedy would throw two touchdowns and Utah State would beat Hawaii in the final seconds of the game, they probably would have laughed.
That’s exactly what happened as the Aggies beat the Warriors 35-31 Saturday night for the first time in Hawaii since 1966.
Utah State started off the scoring on a 9-yard pass from Keeton to junior wide receiver Matt Austin just under six minutes into the game, but a huge second quarter for Hawaii left the Aggies facing a 28-7 deficit at halftime.
As if that wasn’t enough, Keeton was carted off the field on a stretcher with an extreme stinger in his spine after taking a sandwich hit by senior corner Tank Hopkins and sophomore linebacker Art Laurel, with 2:06 left in the half.
Junior defensive tackle Bojay Filimoeatu said Keeton’s injury was a big blow to the team.
“Chuckie’s one of the offensive leaders,” he said. “When he got hurt, it hurt us bad. We all took a knee, and we all prayed. Right when he got up, the next guy, Adam Kennedy stepped up great.”