Rebels’ Fuimaono OK after being kicked in the face

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Oct. 20, 2003 | 9:53 a.m.

Howie Fuimaono was out on the Rebel Park practice field on Sunday night taking snaps and running wind sprints with the rest of his teammates.

That might come as quite a shock to the people who saw him writhing on the ground in pain after Utah offensive guard Chris Kemoeatu kicked him straight in his face early in the third quarter of UNLV's 28-10 loss to Utah on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Even more surprising was the fact that there was no cleat or black and blue marks on the face of the 6-foot-1, 315-pound freshman nose guard from Bonita Vista High School in Chula Vista, Calif.

But perhaps even more stunning was Fuimaono's reaction to what happened to him Saturday.

No, he hasn't retained Johnnie Cochran for a potential lawsuit. Nor did he swear to get revenge against Kemoeatu, who was suspended on Sunday for next weekend's game against New Mexico. He still faces possible sanctions from the Mountain West Conference.

"It was stuff that happens in football, you know?" Fuimaono said softly.

Say what?

"My helmet got knocked off and then I got hit in the eye," Fuimaono said. "It was no big deal ... but the pain was horrible."

Huh? An opposing player does a Bruce Lee impression on your helmetless face and it's no big deal? Now you know why Fuimaono is one of those rare true freshmen to start on the defensive line in Division I-A football.

"I just thought I got a cleat to the eye," Fuimaono said matter-of-factly. "The pain was horrible. I didn't know how to deal with the pain, but everybody on the sideline told me to calm down and everything would be OK. As soon as I calmed down, I was fine after that."

Well, not really.

Fuimaono, who was taken to St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, said he was in severe pain for about three hours.

"My left eye was the one that got hit," he said. "It was real blurry and I couldn't see for a while. But when I got to the emergency room, they gave me some medication for it, some eye drops, and it started to get better after that. Then they took some X-rays to make sure nothing got fractured around the eye socket."

Fuimaono said he hasn't seen the tape of the play.

"On our film it was cut out so I didn't really see it," he said. "I've just heard a lot about it from everybody."

Does Fuimaono think Kemoeatu should be suspended for the rest of the season for what he did?

"I don't know," Fuimaono said. "If he learns from this you shouldn't really take away anybody's playing privileges."

Even if Kemoeatu had been suspended for kicking a San Diego State player a week earlier?

"I didn't know about that," Fuimaono said with a grin.

"It is just part of football. At the time it happened I was angry but when I sat down and thought about it I consider myself kind of lucky. I can still see through my eye, you know."

It seems like Fuimaono's teammates were angrier than he was about the incident.

"It got us fired up," quarterback Kurt Nantkes said. "You shouldn't play like that. It was such a cheap shot ... hitting a guy without his helmet on in the face with your cleats."

"It's all right," Fuimaono said. "It's football. It's a physical sport. And Utah was just a physical team."

It's possible Dodd-Masters will be required to sit out the first half of Saturday's home game against slumping BYU. That was the punishment Kemoeatu received for his first kicking ejection. ... Willie Tagoai, the Rebels' other starting cornerback who has missed three games with a knee sprain, returned to practice Sunday night and is expected to play against the Cougars. "It's still sore," Tagoai said. "It's something I just have to play through." ... Punter Gary Cook, who had four punts over 50 yards in the Utah loss, is now averaging 43.8 yards per punt which ranks him 18th nationally. He also has 16 punts inside the opponents' 20 yard line. ... UNLV opened a 4-point favorite over BYU on Sunday night at the Stardust.