[ WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nevada's Tony Moll, left, congratulated teammate Chance Kretschmer after Kretschmer's touchdown last night.
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Load too heavy for
Kretschmer to carry
Nevada running back Chance Kretschmer walked into Aloha Stadium last night knowing he had a target on his back. After leading the Wolf Pack to victories over the Warriors in 2001 and 2003, Kretschmer knew he had an opportunity to accomplish something very rare: three victories against Hawaii during the June Jones era.
Kretschmer did his part, rushing for 178 yards and a touchdown, but could only watch from the sidelines as the Wolf Pack defense struggled to stop the Warriors all night long in losing 48-26.
Kretschmer's two victories against the Warriors came within the friendly confines of Mackay Stadium, but in his only game in Hawaii, Kretschmer quickly found out how much tougher it is to win at Aloha Stadium.
"You can breathe all you want, but it's so humid you're just soaking wet," Kretschmer said. "But no matter the situation, you have got to be tough."
The humidity seemed to get to Kretschmer early in the second half. With the Wolf Pack trailing 27-13, Kretschmer led Nevada on an 11-play drive that saw the Wolf Pack get the ball to the Warriors' 4-yard line. But, in what wound up being the turning point of the game, Kretschmer was nailed by Tanuvasa Moe and coughed up the football, which the Warriors recovered in the end zone.
"The ball just slipped right out of my hands," Kretschmer said.
Nevada head coach Chris Ault, who was openly displeased with his offense after the game, agreed that play was the turning point of the game.
"Once again we shot ourselves in the foot," Ault said. "It's getting to the point now of being ridiculous."
Early on, it seemed Kretschmer would once again have his way with the Warriors, rushing for 63 yards on the Wolf Pack's opening possession and capping it with a 1-yard touchdown run. But from that point on, it was anything but easy as the Warriors' defense kept Kretschmer in check the rest of the game.
"We tried to stay with what was working, but once we got down it was difficult to get back in it," Kretschmer said. "They made plays when they needed to and things just didn't go our way."
It was especially tough for Kretschmer, who had a touchdown run taken away by an illegal-shift penalty and nearly came up with a diving catch in the corner of the end zone for another score that was called incomplete.
"We just didn't convert our chances," Kretschmer said. "We'll come back and look at it on film and correct things."
Already in an 0-2 hole in WAC play, Kretschmer and the Wolf Pack know that the time to correct things is running out.