Senior believers

This football season, the University of Hawaii embraced the "believe" theme.

On Saturday night, the Rainbow Warriors did the unbelievable when wideout Marcus Kemp seized a 20-yard pass as time expired for a 37-35 comeback victory over UNLV at Aloha Stadium.

A crowd of 22,306 saw two sophomores — quarterback Ikaika Woolsey and Kemp — deliver a parting gift for the 23 seniors in the Warriors’ final home game of the season. The Warriors, who won consecutive FBS games for the first time in coach Norm Chow’s 36-game tenure, end the regular season on the road Saturday against Fresno State.

"I can’t explain it," Kemp said from a mini mosh pit. "It’s a surreal situation."

Before the decisive play, with the clock frozen at "0:01," Woolsey recalled saying: "Believe."

"We’ve been through too much to let it go," said Woolsey, referring to the Warriors’ 24-14 lead with 12:10 to play. "One thing that kept me going was the seniors. They’ve been through a lot of adversity. We wanted to get one for them."

The dramatic finish was preceded with three stages.

The Rebels raced to a 14-0 lead.

The Warriors scored 24 unanswered points, thanks to Joey Iosefa, who finished with 219 rushing yards, two touchdowns and a jump-pass to tight end Harold Moleni in the end zone.

In the third stage, Blake Decker, who did not start because of injuries from his neck to his hips, threw three scoring passes in a span of 11 minutes, 34 seconds, punctuated with Taylor Barnhill’s touchdown grab with 15 seconds left to make it 35-31.

But the Rebels were flagged for two unsportsmanlike penalties after the touchdown, forcing them to kick off from the 10. Ryan Pasoquen’s 13-yard return of a 45-yard punt gave UH possession at the UNLV 42 with 13 seconds to play.

Woolsey looked to the sidelines, then fired to 5-foot-7 slotback Donnie King for a 22-yard gain to the 20.

"I ran a simple out route," King said. "The defense sat on it, and I came back in and made a play. Ikaika’s a great quarterback. He’ll look for the open window and the open receiver."

UH called a timeout with five seconds left.

Woolsey then threw slightly behind tight end Tui Unga, who could not secure the catch.

"I was like, ‘Oh, man,’ " Woolsey said. "But luckily, by God’s grace, there was one second left on the clock, and we had an opportunity to get into the end zone."

UH called another timeout. It was then decided to go with "Frisco."

"It means four verticals," Chow said.

Woolsey is instructed to gaze the coverages. In most situations, there is a crease in the middle on crossing patterns. But Woolsey noticed that 6-foot-4 Kemp was guarded solely by cornerback Tajh Hasson.

"They actually were looking for the middle man," Kemp said. "Ikaika was scrambling. He saw me. I had the defender on my back."

Kemp also was bothered by an ailing left shoulder, an injury that was aggravated on the previous series.

"I sucked it up," Kemp said. "My shoulder hurt, but I pulled it up to make the catch."

Woolsey said: "Once I threw the ball up, I knew deep down in my heart he was going to make the grab, and he did."

Kemp has had an uneven season as a first-time starter.

"He’s been through a lot of adversity this year, struggling a bit," Woolsey said. "No matter. Any time of the day, I’m going to go to my playmakers. I won’t lose trust in Marcus. … Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time situations. That’s what Marcus did."

Kemp said: "All you’ve got to do is go up and make a play. I did it for the seniors. It was their last home game. I had to come out and win it for them."

The play was ruled a touchdown, reviewed, and then upheld. Woolsey then took a knee on the conversion.

To be sure, the outcome was constructed at several points. Just before the half, with the score tied at 14, UH defensive tackle Moses Samia blocked Jonathan Leiva’s field-goal attempt from 25 yards. It was Samia’s second block in as many weeks.

"Doing my job," Samia said. "Me, Kennedy (Tulimasealii) and Beau (Yap) did our job (to get pressure)."

Iosefa, a 248-pound running back, was the wildcat when he scored on 9- and 1-yard runs. He also was the wildcat on a short gain to the 1 in the second quarter. But that was a set-up. He took the ensuing direct step from 5 yards deep, moved up as he did on the previous play, then threw a jump-pass to Moleni in the right corner of the end zone.

"We practiced that all week," Iosefa said. "We studied the defense. We knew what was going to happen."

Iosefa also was confident on UH’s winning play.

"We believed," Iosefa said.

So, too, did center Kody Afusia.

Just before the final snap, Afusia recalled: "I was thinking touchdown and storm the field. That’s what I was thinking."