HONOLULU — Injuries at quarterback and running back, not to mention a halftime deficit, didn’t faze Hawaii. ADVERTISING HONOLULU — Injuries at quarterback and running back, not to mention a halftime deficit, didn’t faze Hawaii. Ikaika Woolsey and Diocemy Saint
HONOLULU — Injuries at quarterback and running back, not to mention a halftime deficit, didn’t faze Hawaii.
Ikaika Woolsey and Diocemy Saint Juste stepped in, and the Rainbow Warriors didn’t miss a beat.
Woolsey passed for 173 yards and two touchdowns, all in the second half, as Hawaii rallied past Wyoming on Saturday night, 38-28 in front of 24,273 fans at Aloha Stadium.
The Rainbow Warriors (2-4, 1-0 Mountain West) amassed 513 yards of total offense to snap a two-game losing streak with their first league victory since 2012. The Cowboys (3-3, 1-1) dropped their second straight game.
Wyoming held a 14-0 lead early in the first quarter and a 21-10 edge at halftime, but Hawaii stormed ahead with four second-half scores behind Woolsey, who started the third quarter after starter Taylor Graham left the game with a broken foot on the final play before halftime.
“He just needed to take a step back and reflect a little bit,” coach Norm Chow said of Woolsey in a university release. “He was ready and he practiced hard all week long and was ready to go. He knew he needed to take a step back and reassess what his skills were. He did a nice job for us.”
Hawaii’s rally started on the last play of the third quarter, when Woolsey released a deep pass just as he was being hit, finding Quinton Pedroza for a 53-yard touchdown.
Four plays later, Trayvon Henderson picked off Wyoming’s Colby Kirkegaard with the first of his two interceptions and Woolsey recycled the turnover into a 40-yard scoring strike to Marcus Kemp to give Hawaii its first lead at 31-28.
“It certainly gave (Hawaii) a spark,” Cowboys coach Craig Bohls said of Woolsey’s performance.
In addition to Graham’s injury, Hawaii lost Lakalaka to a head injury late in the third quarter. He did not return.
But Juste rushed for a career-high 135 yards on 17 carries, closing out the scoring with a 16-yard touchdown with 3:32 to play.
“It was nice to see,” Chow said. “He’s been around a bit, but he needed to step up and he knew that he wanted an opportunity. He got it, and it worked out.”
In addition to Graham’s injury, Hawaii lost running back Steven Lakalaka to a head injury late in the third quarter. He did not return.
Hawaii rushed for a season-high 232 yards.
The Warriors entered the game averaging just 19.8 points and 336 yards per game offensively.
“They’re a very resilient bunch of guys,” Chow said. “We’re a football team and we take pride in ourselves and we talk about that every day and how we have each others back.”
Woolsey completed 8 of 9 pass attempts, while Graham was 9-of-17 passing for 108 yards. Pedroza caught a game-high seven passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns.
Kirkegaard completed 19 of 30 passes for 221 yards with two touchdowns. Jalen Claiborne caught six passes for 121 yards and a score and Shaun Wick carried 24 times for 121 yards and a touchdown.
UH’s defense held Wyoming to only 93 total yards in the second half.
“I thought Hawaii was very strong and physical,”Bohls said. “We had guys at the point of attack and there were a lot of broken tackles, which is an indication fundamentally that we can improve some. Hawaii is a strong football team. There’s certainly things we need to do to execute better.”
Linebacker Devyn Harris scored on a 78-yard fumble return in the first quarter.
Henderson, Taz Stevenson and Benneton Fonua had eight tackles apiece for the Rainbow Warriors.
Mark Nzeocha made a game-high 13 tackles for the Cowboys.
It was Hawaii’s first win over Wyoming since 1992. The Cowboys had won the last six meetings, including last year’s 59-56 overtime win in Laramie.
The Tribune-Herald contributed to this report
