By STEPHEN TSAI
By STEPHEN TSAI
Tribune News Service
With a change to its offensive package, the Hawaii football team sought — and found — a special delivery on Saturday night.
The Rainbow Warriors blocked three field-goal attempts, including one that Trayvon Henderson parlayed into an 89-yard return for a touchdown, and the 1-2 punch in the running game led to a 41-18 victory over Western Carolina before 22,725 at Aloha Stadium.
“I know we needed to run the ball better,” head coach Nick Rolovich said. “We made that an emphasis.”
The Warriors’ most dynamic player a week earlier — slotback John Ursua — was scratched from the lineup because an injury aggravated in practice last week did not fully respond during pregame warm-ups.
“I wasn’t feeling it,” said Ursua, who agreed with coaches to focus on being at full health for this week’s road game against UCLA in the Rose Bowl. “I’m trying to be 100 percent for that. That’s why I sat this one out.”
Ursua’s immediate replacement, Dylan Collie, caught seven passes for 104 yards and a touchdown.
Running back Diocemy Saint Juste, who excelled as a blocker in the season opener against UMass, this time broke away for 202 yards on 25 carries. He also scored from a yard out, his first red-zone touchdown in two seasons. Saint Juste had 181 yards in the first half — 9 yards shy of tying the school record for most rushing yards in a half. Saint Juste did not receive a handoff in UH’s final two drives of the half.
“I felt great,” Saint Juste said of the second 200-yard performance of his UH career. “It’s probably the best shape I’ve been in a while. It felt great to be out there.”
Ryan Tuiasoa’s thunderous runs complemented Saint Juste’s quick bursts. Tuiasoa gained 83 yards the hard way, with short-yardage runs and acrobatic scampers in which he twice hurdled would-be tacklers.
“I ran hurdles in high school,” said Tuiasoa, a Punahou graduate. “I was the ILH champ in 110 meters my senior year and also my sophomore year. I have natural (jumping ability) because people always go for my legs. It’s part of the thing of being a bigger back.”
Tuiasoa scored on two 1-yard runs — the first to extend the Warriors’ lead to 21-7 in the second quarter, the latter to cap the game’s scoring.
“It was fun,” UH center Asotui Eli, a Kealakehe graduate, said of the Warriors’ run blocking. “(Saint Juste is) a running back you can rely on. If you do your job, he’s going to score. Ryan is a good power back. He did his job. He found some holes.”
The Warriors were concerned about the Catamounts, an FCS team that had never beaten an FBS opponent. The Warriors entered with 14 consecutive victories over FCS teams, a streak dating to 2001. But that last loss was in the 2000 opener against Portland State. Rolovich was UH’s quarterback at the time. In speeches leading to the game, Rolovich referenced that loss, as well as Appalachian State’s upset of Michigan 10 years ago. Five Western Carolina coaches, including head coach Mark Speir, were part of that Appalachian State team.
“We have to do a good job of scouting ourselves,” Rolovich said. “This is two weeks in a row teams came in with good plans. We have to take a really good look at that.”
The Catamounts relied on a rat-a-tat, no-huddle offense to set the tempo. Tyrie Adams was a dual headache who threw for 270 yards and rushed for another 107. Every time it appeared Adams was trapped, he often found the escape hatch. The Catamounts ran 89 plays — 16 more than the Warriors — in amassing 482 yards.
“I couldn’t care less about yards,” Speir said. “It’s about points. That’s what wins games. At the end of the day, this game is about winning and losing. And we ain’t into trophies. Everybody don’t get trophies, and Hawaii got the trophy tonight.”
For the Catamounts, a daunting obstacle was the Warriors’ field-goal defense. The Warriors set a school record with the three blocks — two by 6-foot-5 Meffy Koloamatangi and one by 6-7 Viane Moala. As a true freshman a year ago, Moala blocked two kicks.
“I just raise my arms and hope I block it,” said Moala, who played volleyball in high school.
Prior to his block of freshman Joel Poinsette’s 25-yard attempt, Moala said, “I told him, ‘I’m coming,’ and I did.”
Koloamatangi credited Moala for opening the way on his block of Poinsette’s 45-yard attempt. “The gap was really big, and we took advantage of it,” Koloamatangi said.
On his second block, Ian Berryman’s kick struck Koloamatangi’s abs.
“It flew,” Koloamatangi said. “I was like, what happened? It winded me a little.”
Henderson caught the pop-up and raced along the right sideline for a touchdown and a 27-10 lead.
“The ball came right to me,” Henderson said. “I had no choice but to take off. They did a great job of getting back there.”
Rolovich said there were several mistakes to correct — substitution mistakes, a blocked point-after kick that the Catamounts returned for a 2-pointer. But Rolovich conceded: “A win is a win. But now we’re going to see what we’re made of. We’re going into the meat (of the schedule).”