Iosefa’s senior night special

Alisa Iosefa didn’t have to say much to express the pride within her.

The look in her moist eyes said enough.

For the first time in Joey Iosefa’s college career, the University of Hawaii running back powered the Rainbow Warriors offense with his mother in the Aloha Stadium grandstands on Saturday.

He treated her and the rest of the 22,306 in attendance to his most productive game in a Rainbow Warrior uniform.

Iosefa bulled his way to a career-high 219 rushing yards, ran for two touchdowns and threw for another in UH’s heart-pounding 37-35 win over UNLV.

Amid the senior night celebration following the last-second victory, Iosefa wove through the crowd on the field, stopping along the way to hug a teammate or oblige a fan looking for a selfie with the burly back. He eventually found his way to his family and shared a long embrace with his mother.

"I’m very proud of him, how he played," Alisa Iosefa said.

She made the trip from American Samoa last week and will stick around for her son’s college graduation in December.

"It really fires me up," Iosefa said. "This is the first time my mom watched me live in my whole college career. It was a big thing for me tonight, for the seniors and for my family."

In his last game at Aloha Stadium, Iosefa turned in a landmark performance.

He became the first UH back to break the 200-yard mark since Alex Green’s 327-yard performance at New Mexico State in 2010. The UH offense churned out a collective 348 rushing yards, its highest total since going for 360 against Utah State in 2009.

Iosefa turned in the longest run of his career with a 45-yard burst up the middle in the second quarter, which also vaulted him into the program’s 2,000-yard club as its eighth member.

He raised his career total to 2,149 yards, moving ahead of Albert Holmes, Wilbert Haslip, Heikoti Fakava and Jamal Farmer into fifth place on UH’s all-time rushing list with one game left this season.

"I put a lot into this program and this school," Iosefa said. "My last time being in front of this perfect stadium, a lot of good fans around. … My last ride here on my home field. I came in with a lot of swag tonight."

Iosefa scored his 20th career touchdown late in the first quarter, bouncing off defenders and stretching for the goal line. He was initially ruled down at the 1, but after a review he was awarded the touchdown to cut into UNLV’s 14-0 lead.

He later threw for the tying touchdown in the second quarter, taking the snap and lofting a jump pass to tight end Harold Moleni for a 1-yard touchdown. The duo connected on a similar play in last year’s senior night win over Army.

"We practiced it all week. We knew it was going to come, we studied the defense, we knew what’s going to happen. We executed it very well," said Iosefa, who missed seven games this year with an injury and a suspension.

Iosefa’s second touchdown, a 1-yard dive over the goal line, gave UH a 31-28 lead with two minutes left that UNLV would erase with 15 seconds remaining.

But the Rainbow Warriors had a little magic left and left the stadium roaring with Marcus Kemp’s touchdown grab on a pass from Ikaika Woolsey as time expired.