48 - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - November 30, 1998 Michigan Hawaii 48 17 Michigan player of the game: Anthony Thomas Michigan's sophomore running back helped the Wolverines establish their ground game early against the Rainbow Warriors, busting several long runs en route to four touchdowns. Thomas returned to break an 80-yard touch- down run after spending much of the second half on the sideline, watching the second string run the offense. Stat line: Attempts 13 Yards 183 Average 14.1 TDs 4 "M AIICST MICHIGAN Rainbow Warriors' defense can't stop Thomas from career game PASSING Player C, Brady 911 Henson3- Kapsner 1 breisbach 1 Totals 1" RUSHING Player At Thomas 13 Williams 18 Henson 4 Cross 8 Brady 2 Dreisbach 1 Totals 46 RECEIVING Player No. Streets 5 Knight 2 Thomas 1 Cross 1 Smith 1 Williams 1 ichards 1 Walker 1 Shea 1 Totals 31 PUNTING Player1 Epstein Henson Totals KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Cross 2 Thomas 1 Totals 3 PUNT RETURNS Player N. Knght 4 Johnson 1 Totals 5 DEFENSE Payer Foote Gold Patmon Jordan Whitley Schanski Sechler Singletary Jones Hlendricks Copenhaver Frysinger Kratus Jackson Sword Brooks Rosel Ray Wilson Peterson Feazell Campb~ell Miller Renes Terrell Hall Williams Anderson Totals 1-1 22 Yds 183 80 41 19 1 1 327 YdS 90 11 35 18 15 9 9 6 6 199 No. 4 1 S Y2 59 24 83 US Ys 75 13 28 8o 3 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 55 28 0 0 28 Yes TO bIS 142 33 15 9 199 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 Avg 14.1 4.4 10.3 2.4 .5 1.0 7.1 Avg 18 5.5 35 18 15 9 9 6 6 12.1 Yds 161 39 200 L9 80 9 34 8 2 1 8o Lg 49 6 35 18 15 9 9 6 6 49 TD 4 0 1 0 0 0 5 TO 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Avg L9 40.3 47 39 39 40 47 By JimRose Daily Sports Editor tIHONOLULU - As Anthony Thomas rushed past the line of scnm- mage with his first carry on Saturday, a rainbow appeared. And it tackled him. kg It was a Rainbow Warrior, to be exact - a linebacker that stopped Thomas after a gain of five yards. But it was one of the few times all afternoon that Thomas was held in check. 4-In one of his most dominant perfor- mances to date, Thomas was virtually unstoppable against Hawai'i. He car- ied the ball 13 times for a career-high 183 yards, and also scored a career-high four touchdowns in the blowout win, flipping the switch on Michigan's on- again, off-again rushing attack. "I was impressed with Anthony's running," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said after the game. "He ran hard, and I think that is always a positive. When you have a guy that runs like he did, it's always a good thing for your football team." After his initial carry, Thomas did- n't take long to get on track. On his fourth touch, he burst through the MARGARET MYERS/Daily right side of the line and went 38 Anthony Thomas helped himself to a four-touchdown evening against Hawaii, rack- yards for the Wolverines' first touch- ing up 183 yards. 'M' backups get their chances down of the game. His second touchdown was a short one - just a four-yard jaunt that made the score 21-3 - but his next two were beauties. Touchdown No. 3 came less than four minutes later, with 10:02 remain- ing in the first half. After Clarence Williams did the grunt work, carrying three straight times for, 15 yards to get Michigan into position, Thomas fin- ished the drive off. He went left this time, sprinting 16 yards for his third touchdown of the half. It was his final carry of the half, and at the time, it looked as though it would be his final carry of the afternoon. With 104 yards on just I1 carries - and with his team up 35-3 - Thomas had already put in a full day's work. "They told me I was finished at half- time," Thomas said. "So I was relaxing, drinking water and chewing gum. Then somebody told me to get loose again, and I was like, 'Get loose again?"' In the interim, Michigan's defense had surrendered a few points since the intermission. And while 41-17 was hardly what you would term "striking distance," Carr was unamused. He did- n't want the game getting any closer. So Thomas went back in. But not for long. All it took was one play. Thomas took the ball from Brady and promptly raced 80 yards for a touchdown, mak- ing the score 48-17 and effectively 0 squashing whatever minuscule hopes. the Rainbow Warriors may have held of making a comeback. "They told me all they wanted was one play," Thomas said. "So that's what I tried to give them." But there was something else moti- vating Thomas. After his initial char- gethrough the line, he had to outsprint Hawai'i's defensive backs to the end zone. And it was a pretty close race. "I knew if I would have gotten caught from the backside, I'd never hear the end of it," he said. "The guys would never let me forget it." And while the controlled variable was Michigan's offense, the obvious independent variable in Thomas' career afternoon was the opposing defense - Hawai'i's not 0-12 for a reason, after all. But the sophomore running back said the tropical climate was an added bonus. "I feel like I'm at home, back in Louisiana;" he said. "It's warm every day here. It helps you get loose. I ran pretty freely." Avg Etg 29.5 32 24 24 27.7 32 Avg t9 18.8 28 13 13 17.6 26 Mat 3 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 13 TO 0 0 0 ID 0 : T 0 0 Tot 6 5 5 5 5 3 3 .3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 68 TD 0 0 1 0 1 0 S 0 I. PASS DEFENSE Player Ray Peterson Weathers Totals Team Stats First Downs Rushes/Yards Passing Yards Offensive Plays Total Offense Return Yards Comp/Att/Int Punts/Avg Fumbles/ lost Penalties/Yards Time of Poss hit 1 0 0 1 Lt 28 0 0 28 21 46/325 199 68 524 199 14/22/0 5/40 1/0 7/52 26:22 Srkeup 1 1 2 20 33/73 328 85 401 29 24/52/1 8/328 1/0 5/37 33:38 By Jim Rose Daily Sports Editor HONOLULU -- The stars were shining for Michigan on Saturday - but in most cases, just for one half. While Anthony Thomas (183 yards, four touchdowns) racked up career numbers and Tom Brady (9- for-10) and Tai Streets (five catches, two for touchdowns) continued to connect, most of the second half of Michigan's 48-17 trouncing of Hawai'i belonged to the guys who don't always make the headlines. Drew Henson - admittedly, a headline-maker, if not for his play this season - showed flashes of the talent that has him bearing the label of Michigan's Next Great Quarterback. The freshman's numbers (3-for-9, 33 yards) weren't outstanding, but his athleticism showed up in the form of four scrambling runs for 41 yards. Most impressive was a 34-yard touchdown run around left end. With any other Michigan signal- caller behind center, it would likely have been little more than a coverage sack. And while Thomas and senior Clarence Williams (18 carries, 80 yards) handled the bulk of the work- load in the backfield, freshman Walter Cross got eight carries of his own, and also turned a screen pass from Henson into an 33-yard gain, 15 of which were negated because of a holding penalty. Yet Cross' biggest mark may have been made returning kicks in the sec- ond half - his two returns netted a total of 59 yards. "It's really good to see guys like Walter go out and do well," said Michigan receiver Diallo Johnson, who himself added punt returning to his repertoire, taking one back 13 yards. "You just tell them to keep working hard, and maybe- they'll even break one off like A-Train sometime." In addition to Henson and Cross, several other little-used Wolverines saw action. Rudy Smith (15 yards), Aaron Richards (nine yards) and Marquise Walker (six yards) caught one pass apiece. Wifh the starting offensive line resting, Jason Kapsner and Scott Dreisbach each completed passes in fourth-quarter action. Special teams regulars Tate Schanski and Andy Sechler con- tributed even more this week, with three tackles each. Jeff Smokevitch - cleverly disguised, in a No. 99 jer- sey, as Jake Frysinger - had a pair of tackles. In all, 29 different Wolverines made tackles. "We had an opportunity to play a lot of guys, which was good," Lloyd Carr said. "It's always helpful to their development, and to their expe- rience." MOVE OVER, DESMOND: While Tai Streets' success this season has been well-documented, his most recent accomplishment will likely raise eyebrows of even the most astute stat watchers. With his third catch of the game, a two-yarder with 12 minutes left in the second quarter, Streets passed former Heisman winner Desmond Howard to claim third place on Michigan's all-time receptions list. Howard played just three seasons for the Wolverines, but was one of the most celebrated receivers in school history. Streets, in his fourth and final sea- son, finished the game with five catches for 90 yards and a pair of touchdowns. 0 0 HAWAII PASSING Player Robinson Tharp Totals RUSHING Player Thompson Mims Weaver Pigg Kane Oau Grant Tharp Robinson Totals RECEIVING Player Mos Carter McClain Thompson Kane Mims Tharp Totals PUIMNG Player Shrout Tots C-A 2451 2452 Aft 5 6 2 4 1 3 I. 2 9 33 No. 9 8 2 2 1 4 1 24 KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. MorrisI Grant Totals 2 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Tharp 3 Totals 3 DEFENSE Player A. Smith Gamner Paul Mollner Cobb-Adams Avila Jiles Lelay Austin Ulbrich Gonzales Bright Elam Rosehill Tuioti B. Smith Jackson Correia Morris Weaver. Totals Yds 25 24 18 9 6 4 0 "1 -12 73 Yds 124 154 13 3 22 10 2 325 No. 8 8 Yds 20 8 28 Ys 1 1 Soto 9 6 5 4 3 5 4 4 4 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 60 Y6s 328 0 328 Avg 5 4 9 2.3 6 1.3 0 -.5 -13 2.2 Avg 13.8 19.3 6.5 1.5 22 10 2 1.3.7 Yds 328 328 S Avg S 20 a 28 E Avg .3 .3 TO 1 0 14 12 4 13 5 6 2 0 2 4 13 L9 32 67 9 5 22 10 2 67 o 1 0 1 YD 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1D 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Carr gives punting opportunity to unexpected kickers Henson and Epstein give kick to Michigan's punting Avg t9 41 60 41 0 AA 3 2 3 4 4 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 23 is TO 20 0 8 0 2 0 tg T 3 0 3 0 Tot 12 8 8 8 7 6 6 5 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 63 WARREN ZINN/Daily With Michigan building up a quick 28-3 lead, many of the Wolverines' reserves saw extended action against Hawaii on Saturday. By Mark Snyder Daily Sports Editor HONOLULU - After seeing his ever-reliable punter Jason Vinson lose his touch last week against Ohio State, Lloyd Carr knew he needed to make a change at punter. Instead, he made two. As Vinson watched from the sideline, freshmen Hayden Epstein and Drew Henson got a chance to demonstrate their skills. Epstein, the much-bally- hooed placekicker/punter/kickoff specialist, finally got an opportunity from the beginning of the game to demonstrate the monster leg Carr raved about on signing day last February. Judging from his first day under fire as the pri- mary punter, Epstein held his own against Hawai'i. Surprisingly, the first kick came on the Wolverines' first series of the game when Michigan failed to advance the ball, going three-and-out. The offense began clicking soon after, scoring on its next five possessions to break the game open and build a 35-3 lead. So by the next time Epstein was called, it was after halftime and the score was no longer in jeopardy. He punted three more times in the second half as Michigan's second-string offense - coincidentally led by Henson - sputtered. His stats included a 40.3 yard average on four punts with a long kick of 47 yards. "Hayden, in the last couple weeks, has punted more consistently," Carr said. He "has a great leg." Epstein was able to keep his powerful leg warm on the field, kicking off after Michigan seven touchdowns. Henson, who starred as an All-State punter last year when his own Brighton offense halted, provid- one month ago. All of the healthy tailbacks contributed to the effort as Thomas and Clarence Williams mostly were confined to the first half, with Walter Cross getting most of the second-half carries. Though his long run was just nine yards, Williams gained 80 yards on a team-high 18 carries. The most surprising run of the second half came on a Henson improvisation. Facing third and three at Hawai'i's 34, the fresh- man lined up under center looking to pass. When all his options were negated, he scrambled to his left and scooted into the end zone for a touch- down. For those keeping score at home, Henson is now tied for third with injured Justin Fargas for rushing touchdowns with one. Final Big Ten qftandilnv 1 S.. 1 I -