Razed by wolves

Nevada controlled the clock and then the Hawaii football team in a 26-18 victory at Aloha Stadium on Saturday night.

An announced homecoming crowd of 23,249 saw the Wolf Pack score 20 second-half points and amass a possession advantage of 24 minutes, 26 seconds to 5:34 after the intermission.

"That second half was unbelievable," UH coach Norm Chow said of the possession disparity that factored in the Warriors squandering a 10-6 halftime lead.

Center Kody Afusia said: "They burned a lot of the clock. It was pretty frustrating to look up and see time slowly go by and slowly go by."

Nevada quarterback Cody Fajardo was elusive as roping the wind. He rushed for 133 yards and two touchdowns, including seven keepers or scrambles that resulted in first downs. He also was 17-for-26 for 128 yards. Fajardo’s 16-yard scoring pass to 6-foot-5 wideout Hasaan Henderson made it 26-10 with 2:28 left.

The Warriors capped the scoring on Steven Lakalaka’s 5-yard run with 40 seconds to play, and the ensuing 2-point conversion pass from Ikaika Woolsey to Quinton Pedroza. But Tyler Hadden’s onside kick bounced out of bounds to end the suspense

"We needed to put points up," Chow said.

The Warriors had their opportunities. After advancing to the Nevada 14 in the first quarter, they attempted a 32-yard field goal. But Jordan Dobrich stormed the middle and blocked Tyler Hadden’s kick.

In the second quarter, the Warriors faced a third-and-2 at the Nevada 16. But Steven Lakalaka was stuffed for a 3-yard loss. Hadden then kicked a 36-yard field goal.

"We can’t settle for field goals, and then have field goals blocked," Chow said. "You can’t play good people like that."

And Fajardo, a dual threat, seized control in the second half. Nevada went into several formations — the pistol, four wide, offset I — with one intent: consume yards, consume time.

"We knew we had to get the run game going," Fajardo said.

Fajardo set the way with sleight-of-hand tactics. He was a TV cameraman’s nightmare, handing off to Don Jackson or James Butler … no, wait, keeping the ball on a sprints to the perimeter. Fajardo was hit hard only five times, finishing runs with slides or stepping out of bounds. Several times Fajardo appeared to be trapped, only to use Houdini-like moves to escape.

Asked about Fajardo’s elusiveness, UH defensive end Beau Yap said: "His reads … and, ultimately, his speed. His knowledge of how to run the offense, basically."

Fajardo said: "My legs are a pretty good strength of mine."

Fajardo admittedly has deceptive speed.

"I think people see, you, I’m just a white quarterback, (and they) don’t expect me to run too much," Fajardo said. "That’s definitely one of my strengths, and it helps the offense get going."

Fajardo, who is 6 feet 2 and 215 pounds, said he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.51 seconds this past summer. He said his goal is to run a sub-4.5 40.

"The guy makes plays," UH linebacker Simon Poti said. "You have to tip your hat to him."

Fajardo, in turn, raised his helmet in appreciation of his offensive line and running backs.

"Our offensive line did a tremendous job all night," Fajardo said. "That’s a great Hawaii defense. That’s a great Hawaii team. It’s a big team win."

Butler, a tough second-effort runner, rushed for 94 yards. Jackson contributed 69.

"You have to keep the feet rolling," Jackson said of post-contact yards, "keep the feet good."

In the second half, Nevada had five drives of at least 10 plays, including a 19-play possession that consumed 9 minutes, 30 seconds.

Of the Warriors’ 11 drives, four were three-and-outs. They ran only 22 plays in the second half.

"We need to sustain drives," said Woolsey, who was 18-for-32 for 201 yards passing. "We can’t go three-and-out."

Woolsey and Donnie King, a seldom-used slotback, teamed on a 38-yard scoring pass in the first half.

But they had difficulty converting passes of various lengths. The Warriors’ ground-and-pound plans produced 102 yards, 3.5 yards per rush.

Woolsey said the offense needs to ease the defense’s workload.

"That’s not fair to them," Woolsey said of the offense’s brief possessions. "They fought their butts off."

Harding said the Wolf Pack "did really well keeping the offense on the field. It really wore out our defense. We couldn’t do that to them. We needed to, but we couldn’t sustain it. In the end, it killed us."

After the game, Chow struggled for ways to describe another game that got away.

"We couldn’t handle prosperity, I guess," Chow said.