Bowl season in Las Vegas has become somewhat of a tradition for the members of the Brigham Young University football team.

For the fifth consecutive season, the Cougars will play in the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl, which pits a Mountain West team against a Pac-10 team. This year's edition of the game has BYU (10-2) facing off against Oregon State (8-4) Dec. 22 at Sam Boyd Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. Hawai'i time and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.

Both teams had been in the mix for their respective league championships, but came up short and instead finished as runners-up.

The Beavers lost in their last game, 37-33, to rival Oregon, which cost them a trip to the Rose Bowl and their first Pac-10 Conference title since 2000, while the Cougars lone conference loss — a 38-7 faltering against TCU — gave the Mountain West its third different champion in three seasons. (Utah won the MWC last year and BYU won in 2007).

Despite coming up short on their goals, both teams look upon next week's bowl game as a chance at redemption.

"I guess there's a little disappointment after every loss, but that (Oregon) one especially, because of what we were playing for," said Beavers junior safety Suaesi Tuimaunei, a 2006 Kahuku graduate. "But, as a team, we've left that game in the past already and we're all looking forward to playing BYU next week."

Cougars sophomore wide receiver Spencer Hafoka, a 2005 Kahuku graduate, agreed.

"That's all behind us, right now, we're just grateful for another chance to go to a bowl," Hafoka said. "We had those losses to some really good programs, but we've been able to overcome that and now our team has a better focus going into this game."

The Beavers were picked to finish fourth by the Pac-10 media, while USC was the preseason favorite to win its seventh straight league crown. The Trojans finished tied for fifth with a 5-4 conference record while OSU shared second place — and a 6-3 mark — with Arizona and Stanford.

"That's how it is every year," said Tuimaunei of the middle-of-the-pack prediction for OSU. "We just come out to play, I guess, but it feels like every game we have something to prove."

Sophomore linebacker David Pa'aluhi, a 2007 Wai'anae graduate, played like he had something to prove this season, accumulating 67 tackles (second most on the team) with seven going for losses.

"I thought the season went all right," said Pa'aluhi, whose friends call him Bubba. "We just had a couple of games that we let up some plays, but all in all, we grew up as a team and on defense we got better throughout the year."

It was a breakout campaign for Pa'aluhi, who only picked up the sport as a high school senior.

"I never really liked football, I was more into wrestling and kickboxing," he said.

But the Beavers coaching staff saw enough from Pa'aluhi in one prep season to offer him a scholarship. He redshirted in 2007 and played sparingly last year, making 19 tackles. Pa'aluhi is still fairly new to the gridiron, but with the work ethic he displayed, it was hard to keep him off the field and this year he earned the starting job at middle linebacker.

"I had a lot to learn, so I just tried to learn as much as I could and work as hard as I could," Pa'aluhi said. "It's been awesome. I never thought that I would be in these huge football environments or even playing college football."

Tuimaunei was the backup last year to former All-Pac-10 safety and 2005 Kahuku alum Al Afalava, who is now with the Chicago Bears. Despite starting just four games, Tuimaunei made 39 tackles and for his efforts, was named first-team All-Pac-10 as a special teamer.

"I play wherever the coaches want me to play," Tuimaunei said. "I played gunner, wing, cover team ... I played a lot of the positions on special teams."

For the Cougars, there is extra incentive to beat the Beavers come next Tuesday.

"Our coach, Bronco Mendenhall, is an OSU alum," said Hafoka, who has caught 16 passes for 155 yards and one touchdown this season. "There are a lot of guys on both teams with ties back to Hawai'i and I have a lot of teammates from Kahuku that are on that team, so I'm sure the game will be played with a lot of emotion from both sides."

MORE FOOTBALL

• Linfield (Ore.) sophomore defensive back Nate Dixon (Kapolei '08) made seven tackles in Saturday's 27-17 loss at Wisconsin-Whitewater in the semifinals of the NCAA Division III Football Championships. Sophomore linebacker Kalae Parish (Kapolei '08 of 'Ewa Beach) had three tackles and senior defensive lineman Ian Estrada (Kamehameha '05 of Kailua) added two stops for the Wildcats.

• Montana-Western placed four players on the All-Frontier Conference second team. They are senior offensive lineman Hone Roback (Lahainaluna '06 of 'Ewa Beach), sophomore offensive lineman Justin Cossey (Kapolei '08 of Kapolei), junior wide receiver Kahai Sevilla (Baldwin '07 of Wailuku) and sophomore defensive lineman Penisoni Tuifua (Kailua '08 of Waimänalo). Sevilla also earned second-team honors on special teams as a kick returner.

• Western Oregon senior wide receiver Shaun Kauleinamoku (Saint Louis '05 of 'Ewa Beach) caught two passes for 53 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown, to help the North to a 27-21 win over the South in the All-Star East Coast Bowl on Nov. 28 in Petersburg, Va. Kauleinamoku also returned two punts for a total of 30 yards. The East Coast Bowl features 72 All-Stars selected from the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III and the NAIA.

• Mt. San Antonio (Calif.) sophomore defensive back Manoa Latu (Saint Louis '08) made two tackles in a 7-6 win over the College of San Mateo Saturday to claim the California Junior College State Championship. Freshman wide receiver Ryan Iaea (Saint Louis '09 of Käne'ohe) caught one pass for nine yards and sophomore wide receiver Thomas Sherman ('Änuenue '08 of Nänäkuli) made one catch for four yards. Freshman Breydan Torres-Keohokapu (Castle '09 of Kahalu'u) had one punt return for 24 yards.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

• Texas sophomore libero Sydney Yogi (Punahou '08 of Honolulu) had six digs and three assists in Friday's sweep of Texas A&M in the third round of the NCAA Division I Tournament in Omaha, Neb. In Saturday's regional final, Yogi recorded nine digs as the Longhorns topped Nebraska in four sets to advance to this week's final four in Tampa, Fla. Texas (28-1) plays Minnesota (28-8) in the national semifinals tomorrow. Top-seeded Penn State (36-0) meets Hawai'i (31-2) in the other. The winners meet for the national championship Saturday.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

• Linfield (Ore.) senior guard Cody Tesoro (Baldwin '05 of Kahului) scored a team-high 16 points in a 78-63 loss at Evergreen State (Wash.) Saturday. Tesoro had 13 points in a 90-71 loss at Warner Pacific (Ore.) Friday and 10 in an 85-52 loss at Portland State Wednesday. Tesoro was named Northwest Conference Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week back on Dec. 8.

• Willamette (Ore.) sophomore forward Taylor Mounts ('Iolani '08 of Kailua) scored 14 points with three steals and two rebounds in a 78-74 win over Corban (Ore.) Friday.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

• UNLV sophomore forward Jamie Smith ('Iolani '08 of Kailua) scored five points and grabbed six rebounds with three steals and one assist in a 63-45 loss at Fresno State Saturday. The Rebels (4-5) host the eight-team Duel in the Desert — which includes the University of Hawai'i — and runs Saturday through Monday.

• Idaho freshman guard Natasha Helsham ('Aiea '09) scored nine points and sophomore guard Shaena-Lyn Kuehu (Punahou '08 of Honolulu) added eight points with eight rebounds in a 67-56 loss to Portland Friday. Freshman guard Kanisha Bello (Waiäkea '09 of Hilo) added three points for the Vandals. Kuehu tied for a game-high 17 points with seven rebounds in Sunday's 73-49 loss at Montana.

• Willamette (Ore.) junior forward Keilyn Fujioka ('Iolani '07 of Kailua) tied for a game-high 18 points with five rebounds, four assists and two blocks in Friday's 82-50 loss at Warner Pacific (Ore.).

WOMEN'S SOCCER

• Pacific (Calif.) junior defender Kylee Ah Choy (Kamehameha '07 of Mililani) was named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-West Region first team last week. Ah Choy, a 2009 All-Big West first-team performer, anchored the Tigers' defense, which was third in the conference with a 0.85 goals against average.

• UAB junior defender Marie Yempuku (Kamehameha '07 of Honolulu) was named to the NSCAA All-Central Region third team. Yempuku, a 2009 All-Conference USA second-team member, helped the Blazers maintain a 1.13 goals against average.