Rolo’s recruit had UH up early

Before his coaching journey took him to Nevada, Nick Rolovich contacted Ikaika Woolsey about playing in Hawaii.

Woolsey was late in his senior year at Salesian High School in Northern California when Rolovich, the former UH quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, offered him a chance to play in Manoa.

Rolovich moved to Reno, Nev., before Woolsey enrolled at UH and they were on opposing sidelines for Saturday’s Mountain West matchup at Aloha Stadium.

The efficiency of Rolovich’s unit kept Woolsey and the Hawaii offense sidelined for the vast majority of the second half as the Wolf Pack rallied to a 26-18 win.

Woolsey and Rolovich met up on the field after the game for a handshake and a few words of encouragement.

"We have a good relationship," said Woolsey, who gray-shirted at San Francisco City College in the fall of 2011, which was also Rolovich’s last season at UH. "He recruited me to come here. He’s a great guy and a great coach and he wished me the best and I did the same thing.

"He was gone before I came here, but then again he was the one guy who did give me an opportunity to play and Coach (Norm) Chow honored my scholarship."

Early in the game, Woolsey and the UH offense held the advantage in picking up 125 yards to Nevada’s 17 in the first quarter.

After a 13-play drive came up empty when a field-goal attempt was blocked, Woolsey led UH on a four-play march capped by a 38-yard touchdown pass to Donnie King with 16 seconds left in the first quarter.

The yardage margin and the lead grew with an 11-play, 52-yard drive that ended with Tyler Hadden’s 36-yard field goal, giving UH a 10-0 lead at the 4:05 mark of the second quarter.

It was all Nevada from that point on.

From the time Hadden’s kick split the uprights through Nevada’s final touchdown with 2:28 left in the fourth quarter, the UH offense ran just 13 plays and picked up 42 yards. The Rainbows’ four possessions in that span resulted in a fumble, two punts and an interception.

Nevada quarterback Cody Fajardo, meanwhile, led the Pack to 26 unanswered points and Nevada held the ball for 24 minutes, 26 seconds in the second half.

"We have to sustain drives. We can’t go three-and-out and have the defense play maybe a five-minute series and come right back on. That’s not fair to them," said Woolsey, "They fought their butts off. They held them to a field goal (to start) the second half. As an offense, as a leader of the offense, I have to do a better job of just helping the team have higher energy and sustain drives."

Woolsey completed 18 of 32 pass attempts for 201 yards and a touchdown, with several drops hindering the offense’s progress along the way as UH finished with 303 yards in total offense after generating 219 in the first half.

By the time UH cobbled together a scoring drive late in the fourth quarter, Nevada was well on its way to its fourth straight win over UH.

"Offense started off slow and we left the defense out there too long," King said. "It’s about execution … when we started rolling it was too late.

"The receivers have to catch it. Easy catches, hard catches, we just have to make plays."