Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Football Beat Reporter
SJSU football head coach Brent Brennan took the podium brimming with joy.
The Spartans (7-4, 5-3) had just defeated the Rainbow Warriors (3-10, 2-6) to complete a perfect 6-0 season at home. A feat no SJSU squad has completed since 1978.
“We are trying to build some tradition, some culture and you’re building your own history and to be able to finish it that way is really really special,” said Brennan, who’s now 2-3 against UH, following the 27-14 win.
Much of Brennan’s gleeful satisfaction came from how SJSU football finished its senior day.
UH was on SJSU’s 8-yard line down 27-14 with 2:30 left in a fourth-and-goal situation.
The Rainbow Warriors, led by second-year quarterback Brayden Schager, were threatening to spoil the festivities.
Schager had zipped a 22-yard strike to Steven Fiso on the drive before with 12:41 left and then converted the two-point conversion on a pass to Zion Bowens to make it 24-14.
Unfortunately for Schager and the Rainbow Warriors, senior defensive ends Junior Fehoko and Cade Hall weren’t leaving CEFCU Stadium without one final hurrah.
The two-headed monster raced toward Schager, wrapped him up simultaneously and dragged him down to secure a win.
Second-year kicker Taren Schive secured the 27-14 win on the following drive with his second field goal of the half.
“I don’t know if you could ask for a better ending for their careers in CEFCU Stadium,” said Brennan.
Hall and Fehoko arrived at SJSU in 2018 following a wretched, 2-11 2017. They were both key in turning the program around and ended their final season combining for 18.5 sacks and 30.5 tackles.
“I was so happy. I think everybody all week was really emotional because of what those guys have meant to our program and also those guys are the leaders of our team,” said Brennan.
The way the game ended pulled attention away from one of the biggest storylines heading into the day:
Chevan Cordeiro’s first game against UH since transferring to SJSU this past winter.
A local product who grew up a stone’s throw from the campus, Cordeiro spent four years as a Rainbow Warrior. He started in 23 games, but was the canary in a coal mine when he entered the transfer portal last fall to leave a ruthless, toxic culture created by now fired head coach Todd Graham.
That’s now in the rearview for both Cordeiro and the Rainbow Warriors.
“They are still my brothers,” said Cordeiro. “Still have some people on the team that I’m close with and during the game of course they were talking, but after it was all fun and games.”
Cordeiro’s 208-yard, two touchdown performance was modest, but it was enough to get the job done thanks to Kairee Robinson.
The fourth-year running back rumbled for a career-high 148 yards on the ground and the touchdown that gave SJSU a 21-6 lead to open the second half.
“I think he can be a 100-plus yard guy every week,” said Brennan. “It’s just awesome to see Kairee do that just with that physicality.”
Freshman Isaac Jernagin pitched in 27 yards and Cordeiro had 19 as SJSU ran for 191 yards – SJSU football rushed for an average of 51 in its previous five games.
Senior day was meaningful for longtime Spartans like the aforementioned Hall and Fehoko, plus Nehemiah Shelton, Kyle Harmon, Noah Wright and Alii Matau.
“A lot of those guys chose us coming out of 2017. When we were in 2 in whatever and then they endured 1-11,” said Brennan. “I love those seniors, I’m going to miss them all dearly. There is so much life there with those guys. Five or six years of life, pretty special.”
It was just as special for first-year Spartan, but sixth-year wide receiver Elijah Cooks who finished with 10 catches, 121 yards and two touchdowns.
“The past two years have been my senior year, but I haven’t been able to finish them,” said Cooks. “To be able to finish it with my family has been a blessing honestly. No better feeling in the world.”
Cooks totaled just five games in his previous two seasons at Nevada due to injury, but came alive in 2022, going for a career-high 10 touchdowns.
“I’m happy that I’m here. I’m happy that I got to finish it out with these guys. These guys have become brothers to me this past year,” said Cooks. “I haven’t even been here a whole year yet and these guys have become family to me.”
UH’s Matthew Shipley nailed two field goals in between Cooks’ touchdown grabs on the second and final drive of the first half as SJSU went into halftime up 14-6.
When combining Cordeiro’s velvet soft touch and Cooks’ catch radius, they’re virtually unstoppable.
“That’s what happens every time. I promise you it’s nothing like I plan to go up with one hand,” said Cooks. “I’m reaching and I can only get one hand out there and it just sticks to my hand.”
In 2017, Brennan received an earful from his mentor Dick Tomey in the tunnel after SJSU football suffered a loss to UH replete with Bad News Bears-esque blunders.
Tomey meant well, giving then first-year head coach Brennan useful wisdom coated in ‘tough love.’
The Spartans and Rainbow Warriors now play for the Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy as a way to honor him after his passing in 2019. He left an imprint on both programs through his coaching.
Brennan thinks Tomey would have a different reaction to the Spartans performance against the Rainbow Warriors six years later.
“He would be excited for me and he would be excited about the physicality and the defense.”
Now his trophy will rest peacefully in San Jose for another year.
