When New Mexico State's Davon House intercepted Colt Brennan's first pass of the game on the first play from scrimmage to start the night, it appeared defense was going to be the difference.

It was, but for the Warriors, who stomped the Aggies, 50-13, last night at Aloha Stadium to stay undefeated at 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the Western Athletic Conference.

While Colt was his typical self in shrugging off the turnover, Hawai'i's defense made a statement of its own with three interceptions and two fourth-down stands, including one at the UH 33 to hold off an offense that had just come off a 45-31 thrashing of Idaho last week.

"It was way important," said UH linebacker Adam Leonard, who led UH with 10 tackles, 2.5 of them for lost yardage, and had an interception. "People don't look at how the game went and look at the score and don't know how good we are. We want to prove every week that we can stop each and every team because this is a great offense when they have (quarterback Chase) Holbrook at the helm. We just wanted to prove we could stop a high-powered offense."

The Warriors wanted to show that the high-scoring wins against San Jose State (42-35 in OT), Louisiana Tech (45-44 in OT) and Utah State (52-37) were not indicative of a porous defense. After all, they did have to make big plays to preserve the overtime leads.

"We set some goals of what we had to do to win," UH defensive coordinator Greg McMackin said. "Turnovers, third and fourth downs, our normal goals. (We wanted to) make them earn what they got. They're the best offense that we played. I'm just really proud of our guys."

After Brennan's interception, the Aggies went three and punted. The Warriors followed with a score.

On the Aggies' next series, they drove to UH's 33 and faced fourth-and-1; they already had converted a third-and-14 from their 21, so it was a reasonable risk. Holbrook fired to wideout Wes Neiman, but linebacker Solomon Elimimian defended the play perfectly, allowing the Warriors to take over on downs and again score.

"I know I was there," Elimimian said. "I should've intercepted it. I should have had two interceptions tonight, but it was just like a turnover."

Elimimian also deflected a pass that Keao Monteilh intercepted in the second quarter.

Last night, just about everyone got in the act on defense.

Early in the second quarter, a UH punt pinned the Aggies to their 14. Defensive end Karl Noa dropped Holbrook for a 14-yard loss, causing a fumble that was recovered by another Aggie. On the next play, he helped box in Holbrook to allow Leonard to make a sack for a 2-yard loss, making it fourth-and-16 from the 7. That led to the Aggies punting from their end zone and Myron Newberry's 29-yard return to the NMSU 12 that set up Dan Kelly's 27-yard field goal for a 16-0 lead.

"I basically came in free because Adam (Leonard) did a good job of picking up two guys," Noa said of his sack.

The Aggies finally got on the board with 39 seconds left in the half when they settled for a 34-yard field goal by Paul Young, making it 23-3.

They opened the second half by settling for a 41-yard field goal by Young and finally scored a TD on a 19-yard slant by Neiman from Holbrook on fourth-and-3 from the UH 19.

But that was the extent of damage by the Aggies against UH's defense, which had three sacks (the other was by Fale Laeli) and 11 tackles for losses.

Even the reserves got in the act later in the game. JoPierre Davis returned an interception off NMSU backup J.J. McDermott 57 yards for a touchdown, his first of his career. He was more concerned with making the tackle that he ended up being at the right place at the right time.

"I just wanted to tackle the guy," he said. "I was so aggressive about my tackling that it paid off for me. I just got the tip."

The interception was a long time coming, he said.

"We don't get too many opportunities because the guys playing in front of us are doing so well, there's no reason to take them out," he said. "Once we get some little dirty work, once we get in the game, we're going to try our hardest."

While the Warriors enjoyed the success, they know they still have bigger games ahead.

"We still have a ways to go, but the boys stepped up tonight," Noa said.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.