Same mistakes all season lead to a final loss

The Hawaii football team’s regular-season finale started under a rainbow and ended in a rainfall at Aloha Stadium.

The Rainbow Warriors’ 30-20 loss to Brigham Young was symbolic of everything that has gone wrong in what started as a hopeful season.

“Not at all,” Nick Rolovich said of how he envisioned his second year as UH head coach.

The Warriors had difficulty on third down (three of 11) and fourth (one of three). Running back Diocemy Saint Juste, who entered needing 28 yards to set the school’s single-season rushing record, reached the milestone on the Warriors’ final possession, their 49th of 53 plays. He finished with a season-low 39 yards on 12 carries.

“It’s a nice thing to have,” said Saint Juste, who finished his UH career with 1,510 rushing yards, “but I’d trade it for more wins this season.”

After opening the season with consecutive victories, the Warriors lost nine of the next 10 to fall to 3-9.

Injuries factored in the Warriors’ struggles. They played without tight end Metuisela ’Unga and slotback John Ursua, and only once started the same offensive line in back-to-back games. But against BYU, the Warriors could not get traction with the running game (28 yards). While Dru Brown completed 28 of 38 passes for 258 yards in his 22nd consecutive start, the Warriors could not connect in crucial situations. Their first seven full drives resulted in five punts, a lost fumble and a fourth-down shortcoming.

“We couldn’t get anything going,” Brown said. “We got it in spurts. That’s kind of how it was all season.”

The Warriors’ only touchdown in the first three quarters came on weak-side linebacker Solomon Matautia’s 42-yard fumble return. On a safety blitz, Trayvon Henderson hit quarterback Joe Critchlow. “I was blitzing late,” Matautia said. “I saw Trayvon with a nice hit and the ball was flying in the air. I said, ‘Dang, I guess I’m going to score again.’ ”

Matautia scored on an interception return two weeks earlier.

“We didn’t execute very well, the first half especially,” Rolovich said. “When Solomon’s your best offensive production, you’ve got issues.”

The Cougars, who entered with three victories in 12 games, set the tone early with an effective running attack. Squally Canada, a two-grip power runner, scored on runs of 40 and 4 yards to stake the Cougars to a 13-7 lead. Canada, who rushed for 113 yards on 17 first-half carries, exited late in the second quarter after being evaluated for a possible concussion. He did not play after that.

But the Cougars did not miss a step, with quarterback-turned-back Austin Kafentzis stepping in for Canada. Kafentzis rotated among wildcat quarterback, running back and flex receiver. He rushed for 98 yards on 18 carries. His father is Kyle Kafentzis, one of five brothers to play defense for the Rainbow Warriors. In all, eight Kafentzis family members wore UH uniforms.

“It was cool to play on the field they played on,” Austin Kafentzis said. “It was a fun game. The offensive line gave us big holes to get through. … Our offensive line killed it today, especially with the receivers. They were blocking downfield. That helped out a ton.”

Kafentzis said there were wildcat runs — in which he took the shotgun snap — designed for him. He also was projected to spell Canada. But with Canada out, Kafentzis and Riley Burt shared the load. Burt rushed for 75 yards and scored on a 11-yard run to expand the Cougars’ lead to 30-13 with 3:46 left.

Critchlow, who was the fifth-string quarterback at the start of training camp, was 14-for-23 for 166 yards and a touchdown. Critchlow, who spent the previous two years on a church mission, is 2-1 as a starter. He is the fifth true freshman to start at quarterback in the program’s history.

The Cougars received a boost from their defense, which added blitzers to gap-fillers to their 3-4 base.

“We wanted to attack early and execute our plays,” said Sione Takitaki, an outside linebacker who often set up as a rush end. “Going in, we wanted to stop the run and have them throw the ball. We wanted to blitz and get in our gaps and make sure there was no crease for (Saint Juste) to hit.”

The Cougars surrounded two interior linemen with ends who were in constant motion. Corbin Kaufusi, a 6-foot-9 converted basketball player, often was assigned to track Saint Juste.

“We knew they had a great running back,” Kaufusi said. “If we could stop him, hopefully we could get into our pass rush. A lot of it was physicality. We were coached this week on being physical. … I was the spy sometimes. I had to go find the ball.”

The Warriors averaged 1.9 yards per rush.

“It wasn’t very pretty, but I never felt they quit on this state,” Rolovich said. “That’s something they can be proud of.”

After the game, 20 UH seniors were honored.

“The seniors deserved more,” said middle linebacker Jahlani Tavai, a junior. “I wish we could have done better, done more. I know everybody wanted to go out with a bang for the seniors.”

Tavai, meanwhile, said he soon will announce whether he will return for his senior year or apply for the 2018 NFL Draft.

“Whatever my decision is, I’ll let everybody know,” Tavai said.