Cesar Silva knew his moment was coming.

Not when Hawaii scored two late touchdowns to tie up Saturday night’s game. Not during this game week when the Fresno State kicking unit surprised itself by hitting a 57-yarder at sea level. Not even before facing USC in Silva’s Division I debut back in August.

“I’ve been dreaming of this ever since I’ve been a kicker,” said the Bulldogs’ instantaneous hero.

His moment arrived with six seconds left and two teams’ title hopes in the Mountain West’s West Division hanging in the balance. The most loyal remnant of the Aloha Stadium crowd of 17,583 screamed its lungs out for him to go full Charlie Brown.

>> Click here to see photos of the game between Hawaii and Fresno State.

Silva didn’t. His 37-yarder was true as time expired and the formerly struggling defending conference champions made off with a 41-38 victory, their sixth straight at Aloha Stadium going back to 2009.

He sensed his time was nigh as UH backup quarterback Chevan Cordeiro improbably led UH to two touchdowns from down 14 points in the final 2:13 to tie it.

“Oh, yeah. When they scored that first touchdown and they did an onside kick (successfully), I mean, that’s the first thing our snapper (Jacob Westberry) said to us. ‘It’s going to come down to us.’ … I’ve always said, ‘I want a game to come down to me.’ I wanted USC (a 31-23 loss) to come down to me. I feel like I’m ready. So, hey, I delivered, you feel me?” He laughed.

Silva, a transfer from the College of San Mateo, came into the game a less-than-stellar 10-for-17 on field goals. Two weeks ago, at home against UNLV in a narrow Fresno State win, he went 0-for-3.

Then, Saturday night, he missed two of his first three attempts, misfiring from 35 and 56 yards. He connected from 22 in the third quarter.

Silva said he was grateful for the trust of coach Jeff Tedford, and that of his teammates.

“It’s wonderful, to see him prevail, to see him … mess up on that first kick and come back victorious,” said Fresno senior quarterback Jorge Reyna. “It’s just the epitome of our team. We keep fighting, we keep going, despite all odds. We’re going to give everything we got until the final seconds. So, that’s what Cesar showed everybody — Bulldog football.”

With 1:08 left for their final drive, the somewhat-maligned Reyna had a hand in redemption, too, using his legs to pick up 17 and 11. The killer was Ronnie Rivers’ pickup of 13 yards on third-and-10 from the UH 33, putting things well in range for Silva — or “9-iron,” as Reyna calls him.

He’d had a game-winner in junior college, but from pitching-wedge range, 19 yards — shorter than a simple PAT.

“As soon as I kicked it, I knew it was good,” Silva said. “Only thing that went through my mind was just, have a good first step, and just attack the ball and it should go through the uprights, to be honest with you.”

Fresno (4-4, 2-2 MWC) hopes this represents a sea change at sea level for the program coming off a 41-31 home loss to Colorado State, while it simultaneously sank the West hopes of UH (5-4, 2-3).

The Bulldogs dedicated the win to injured offensive lineman Matt Smith.