Sunday, October 14, 2001
[ UH WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
Revenge and redemption never tasted so sweet for Nick Rolovich. Rolovich redemption
not minorBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comA year after being knocked around by UTEP in a performance that resulted in his demotion from the starting quarterback spot, Rolovich came full circle to lead Hawaii to a 66-7 win over the Miners last night at Aloha Stadium.
"We got beat pretty bad last year by UTEP and I don't think anybody forgot that," Rolovich said. "We were ready."
Rolovich completed 17 of 35 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns against the team that forced him to the bench last season.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior absorbed a beating in a 39-7 loss to the Miners in El Paso last September. Rolovich went 6-for-28 that night and was lifted in favor of Timmy Chang in the second half.
Last night's game started much the same way, as Rolovich completed just 5 of his 14 first quarter throws. But he found his rhythm in the second period, connecting on 6 of 11 passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns. He went 4-for-4 on a drive that ended with an 18-yard strike to Ashley Lelie.
Lelie, the leading receiver in the Western Athletic Conference entering the game, caught just two passes last night, but both went for scores, as Rolovich also hit him on a 38-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter.
"He got his chance and he's starting to shine," Lelie said of Rolovich. "He's stepping it up and making really big plays and big throws."
All the while, Chang, the Warriors' starter in their first two games, gave Rolovich his take on UTEP's defensive scheme while resting his sprained right wrist.
"I felt like I was right there with him," Chang said. "He can only see so much on every play, and every time he came back we were trying to feed him more information so he knows what's going to happen and what kind of coverages we saw from our perspective."
Even on his worst throw of the night, an interception to D.J. Walker at the end of the second quarter, Rolovich made a play to help the team. His diving, touchdown-saving tackle forced UTEP to attempt a field goal on the final play of the first half that was blocked by Nate Jackson.
Rolovich fed off of last week's comeback victory over SMU to turn in his breakthrough performance. Rolovich stood in the pocket and delivered passes with an authority absent in his performances from a year ago.
"Last week, we had to help him a little bit more," said Hawaii slotback Craig Stutzmann. "We had to make sure we caught the ball, we had to make the big plays. This week it was a whole other story. He was the one calling the shots. He was the one directing us around out there.
"He's taking charge, he's confident. He's fooling around on the sidelines in practice, just being really loose. The past couple weeks he's been kind of tight and really nervous."
Rolovich wasn't the only quarterback to enjoy the best game of his UH career. Shawn Withy-Allen, a junior best known for being June Jones' shadow on the sideline, saw his first action of the season. He picked up a first down on a draw play in the first half and ran the option on Mike Bass' touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Jared Flint finished the game under center, completing 3-of-4 passes for 64 yards. In all, Hawaii quarterbacks went 20-for-39 with 316 yards passing.
"We're on a roll right now and feeling good," Rolovich said.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii