The circus came to Manoa for the Hawaii football team’s final day of spring training.
Former offensive lineman RJ Hollis, adorned in a glittery suit, served as the ringmaster. There were street magicians, acrobats, food booths and “animals” created from balloons. Head coach Nick Rolovich was dressed as a clown, with his beard dyed green and his backpack filled with confetti launchers.
“I feel I need to dress up every chance I get,” said Rolovich, who initially granted one-on-one interviews only to reporters who would wear a red nose. “The best thing was the scoring system.”
In rules only known to Rolovich, the Mauka team (first-string offense, defensive reserves) defeated the Makai unit (No. 1 defense, offensive reserves), 11.1 million to 9.2 million.
“And the 11.1 million points were scored by one team,” Rolovich decided.
It was a perplexing loss for Makai, which executed a post-touchdown play valued at one million points.
In 2016, Fresno State used a trick play in which an offensive tackle, who was deemed an eligible receiver, caught a pass. UH line coach Mark Weber, was an assistant coach on that Fresno staff. With Weber assisting, Makai called the same play after quarterback Chevan Cordeiro scored on a 22-yard keeper. On the million-point-after play, Cordeiro faked a handoff, then tossed the scoring pass to left tackle Ernest Moore.
“We called it ‘78’ for (Moore’s) number,” Makai offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann said. “That was Mark Weber’s trick play. He liked the tackle throwback.”
Moore said he learned the play during Friday’s walk-through session. “We practiced it, maybe, five minutes,” Moore said. “It was real quick. They showed me the footwork, and I was in there.”
Cordeiro said the most difficult part was keeping mum. “I have a big mouth,” Cordeiro said.
“I had to keep it in.”
For the Warriors, the 90-play game showed the offense’s production, the defense’s aggressiveness and the overall depth. In last year’s game, there were about six healthy offensive linemen available for what turned into a situational scrimmage. On Saturday, the Warriors were three-deep on the line. The spring’s No. 1 offense also drove effectively on its first three possessions.
On the opening drive, a pass from Cole McDonald to Jason-Matthew Sharsh in the end zone was nullified because of a pick route. On the next play, McDonald fired to Sharsh for the touchdown.
“We’re going to have plays that are called back,” McDonald said. “We’re going to fight through them.”
Sharsh said: “It was good to go right back to it. I was ready. I feel coming in from last season to the spring, we have that connection going on offense.”
McDonald and wideout JoJo Ward collaborated on a 47-yard completion on a go route. Cordeiro showed arm strength with back-to-back passes of 24 and 23 yards to slotback James Phillips.
The defense also played well. During one stretch, the Mauka team made three consecutive sacks. UH’s two nickelbacks also proved to be disruptive. Kai Kaneshiro broke up two passes, and was credited with a third when he dropped a sure interception of a Justin Uahinui pass.
“I saw it coming the whole way,” Kaneshiro said. “I was thinking too hard about running the ball forward. I have to make sure I catch it first.”
Eugene Ford, who moved from corner to nickel with two games remaining in the 2018 regular season, had the game’s only interception off McDonald. Ford was the unofficial leader in picks during the 15-practice spring. Ford said he set a goal of leading in interceptions. “I’m working on that,” he said.
Rolovich said the Warriors have reached the halftime of the offseason program. “We just got done with the second quarter,” Rolovich said of spring training. “They’ll finish finals and do their thing in the workout program this summer. Training camp is the fourth quarter.”
McDonald said: “We want to put it all together and carry it into the season.”
