Hawaii falls behind early, then makes a game of it before falling short

SEATTLE >> The Hawaii football team needed one more turn Saturday, just another rotation to keep alive its pretty-please comeback hopes.

Instead, the football froze just shy of the UH 40, the 10th yard needed for the Warriors to parlay an onside kick into a final opportunity. In a symbolic scene, the football — and the Warriors — fell short.

Washington was awarded possession, and it ran out the final 1:39 to claim a 40-32 nonconference victory before 63,252 in Husky Stadium.

“It’s not a game of inches, it’s a game of centimeters,” UH kicker Tyler Hadden said. “If I had half a rotation more (on the football), I would have been on it. No one was around it. I was sitting around waiting for it to go 10 yards. So close. Just so close. That’s how it goes.”

It was a recurring theme for the Warriors, who could not overcome dropped passes, missed assignments and point-after breakdowns.

“Nobody is happy right now,” UH head coach Greg Mcmackin said as he emerged from the locker room. “I’m not in a good mood.”

The Warriors, who fell to 1-1, still have to assess all of the damages. Right tackle Sean Shigematsu and right slotback Miah Ostrowski, who had 11 catches for 87 yards and a touchdown, were on crutches as they left the stadium. Ostrowski has a possible foot injury; Shigematsu is suspected to have a more serious knee injury. The Warriors traveled to Las Vegas on Saturday night in preparation for this week’s game against UNLV, but there is a likelihood Shigematsu will return to Honolulu for medical examinations.

“It’s a tough deal having a couple of players hurt,” Mcmackin said.

The thing was, the Warriors were optimistic entering the first stop of a two-game road trip. The Warriors defeated another Pac-12 member, Colorado, a week earlier, while the Huskies struggled against Eastern Washington. What’s more, the past week, UH linebacker Aaron Brown and left wideout Darius Bright were reinstated after serving onegame suspensions.

The Warriors did not appear to be disheartened after falling behind 21-0 in the first quarter. In 2007, the Warriors conquered a similar deficit against Washington to finish an unbeaten regular season. But even with the absence of a present tenseness, the Warriors could not conjure the past heroics of 2007 or, for that matter, the 1973 upset of the Huskies.

“I think we played our hearts out,” said UH quarterback Bryant Moniz, who completed 31 of 45 passes for 333 yards. “We never gave up. But (the Huskies) were the better team in this game. Give them a lot of credit.”

The book on the Huskies is of an offense that tries to set the tone with power-running schemes. This time, the Huskies edited the script, calling for quarterback Keith Price to use rollouts, bootlegs and playaction methods to find his receivers. The wrinkle was the Huskies used a tight end as an out-of-pocket blocker on routes to draw a safety away from a receiver.

“We had a hard time just getting lined up,” UH defensive coordinator Dave Aranda said. “I take responsibility for that.”

The Warriors have several defensive schemes. On second-or third-and-long situations, they align strong-side linebacker Art Laurel as a pass-rusher. But the Huskies were clicking so well — their first seven plays resulted in six first downs and Chris Polk’s 2yard scoring run — the Warriors could not go to their blitz personnel early.

With the UH pass rush hesitant because of the play-action plays, Price had time to pick and choose receivers. Price, who wore a brace to protect a sore right knee, completed his first eight passes for 193 yards, including touchdowns of 10 and 20 yards to Jermaine Kearse, to stake the Huskies to a 21-0 lead.

“We didn’t panic,” Moniz said. “We flashed back to ’07, when we were down 210. We weren’t worried, and we were feeling good on offense.”

Still, there were moments of regret. Their opening drive was short-circuited when right wideout Royce Pollard caught a pass and raced for daylight. But then UW linebacker Cort Dennison caused a man-made eclipse, knocking the ball free. Cornerback Gregory Ducre recovered at the 5.

“I saw the ball,” Dennison said, “and I thought I’d come over the top.”

A wardrobe malfunction contributed to the turnover. Pollard said he wore new arm sleeves.

“I felt (the ball) slipping on my arm sleeve,” Pollard said. “I could have done a better job of holding it high and tight. I was bringing it in, and he did a good job of following through on the strip. It slipped between my arm and the jersey.”

Later, down 21-0, the Warriors advanced to the 9, where they faced a fourthand-4 situation. McMackin decided to keep the offense on the field.

But Bright, on a crossing route, could not secure Moniz’s pass into the end zone. It was the first of Bright’s two red-zone drops in the game.

“I had dropped passes,” Bright said. “It’s all on me to get better. It felt good to be out there, but I feel the bad out-weighed the good. I have to work harder.”

But then the momentum shifted. UH’s defense adjusted. And Moniz, whose scrambling was limited because Dennison was assigned as a tracker, found receivers on screens and quick slants.

Sterling Jackson’s first of two touchdown runs gave the Warriors their first points. The deficit was cut to 21-14 when safety Richard Torres intercepted Price at the doorstep of the end zone, then sprinted 99 yards the other way.

“I knew they were trying to attack the inside with two guys,” Torres said. “I was trying to read the quarterback. I went over to where he was looking. I saw green in front of me, and I tried to take off before someone caught me. My biggest fear was somebody catching me.”

As it turned out, it was the Huskies who would not be caught. The ensuing possession was punctuated when Devin Aguilar caught a pass in front of cornerback Tank Hopkins, who was out of position, and raced away to complete a 31-yard scoring play.

After that, every UH comeback attempt came with a flaw. After Moniz scored on a 1-yard run to close UH to 28-20, Everrette Thompson blocked Kenton Chun’s point-after kick.

Jackson’s second scoring run cut the margin to 31-26, but Bright couldn’t catch the 2-point pass. And on the next UW possession, tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins grabbed a 14-yard scoring pass from Price.

And when Ostrowski’s 8yard scoring catch closed the Warriors to 38-32 with 1:39 remaining, Thompson blocked another PAT, and Desmond Trufant picked up the football and ran 87 yards for the final two points.

“I think we have a protection problem,” Mcmackin said of the blocks. “There’s a guy coming from inside, and blocking both kicks. It’s something we obviously have to get cleaned up, and we will.”

The Warriors also will spend this week mending defensive breakdowns.

“The longer the game went, the better we played,” Aranda said. “There were problems. We got it fixed, and it will be fixed from now on.”

After the game, the players made the uphill walk toward the buses.

“I’m disappointed about the loss,” UH defensive tackle Kaniela Tuipulotu said, “but not about the heart of the team. We’ll be back.”