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University of Hawaii running back Fred Holly had seen — and heard — enough.
Enough of the boos that had cascaded from the stands at Aloha Stadium in the second half and enough of the 17-point underdog Rice Owls who refused to go quietly into the Halawa night Saturday.
So when he glanced at a scoreboard that read UH 36, Rice 29 with a minute and 45 seconds remaining and the game and unbeaten start hanging in the balance, Holly said he was determined to put a swift end to it.
“When I heard Rolo (head coach Nick Rolovich) call the play, I literally told myself, ‘I’m gonna score a touchdown right here and now and finish this game,’ ” Holly said. “It was time to put this away.”
And when he took the handoff from quarterback Cole McDonald on an inside zone play and saw the cutback lane, he bolted 46 yards for a touchdown to put away the game, 43-29, that gave the Rainbow Warriors their first 3-0 start since the Sugar Bowl-bound 2007 season.
On a night when the ’Bows struggled mightily and faced their biggest challenge of this young season, the emergence and resilience of Holly, a redshirt sophomore, provided a winning edge.
In this he was something of a poster player for the ’Bows, battling back from being dropped in the end zone for a safety earlier in the fourth quarter to deliver the knockout punch.
“I just wanted to seize the opportunity,” Holly said. “I played OK in the first two games, but I wanted to do more in this one.”
He did a lot, amassing a career-high 100 yards on 17 carries for two touchdowns.
“When I saw that opening and had just one guy to beat the rest was history,” Holly said.
“This is what we expect from him,” McDonald said. “It is usually just (receivers) John Ursua, Cedric Byrd … all the guys on the outside make big plays and we usually score so fast that Freddie doesn’t get a chance to showcase his ability very much. And tonight he stepped up big-time on that last drive and getting us first downs. It was big-time for Fred.”
Seldom used last season when the ’Bows put the ball in the hands of Diocemy Saint Juste for a school-record 282 carries and 1,510 yards, this season the running back job has been his to run with. “I struggled a little bit earlier just being too excited,” Holly said. “I had to learn to calm down, not second-guess myself and just let things develop.”
Earlier, on UH’s first offensive play of the fourth quarter from the UH 1-yard line, a miscommunication between the bench and the field resulted in a safety as Holly took the handoff from McDonald and was dropped in the end zone by linebacker Martin Nwakamma.
That reignited the boos of a small but vociferous gathering of 21,954 that had expressed its displeasure at conservative and often predictable play-calling in the second half.
True to their modus operandi this season, the ’Bows jumped out to early leads — 14-0, 21-7 and 28-13 — and then had to hold on in seeing its advantages cut to six (28-22) and seven points (36-29).
This time, Holly was there to show the Rainbow Warriors a way to the end zone, closure and victory.
Just as he promised himself he would.
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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
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