The day after a season- opening 37-27 road loss to Stanford, Hawaii special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield was assessing his units’ half-glass performance.

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The day after a season- opening 37-27 road loss to Stanford, Hawaii special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield was assessing his units’ half-glass performance.

“I liked how we played in the first half,” Sheffield said, “and hated how we played in the second half. Just didn’t play well (after the intermission). That’s football. It is what it is.”

The Warriors erred on the kickoff to start the second half. Primary returner Tama Uiliata signaled for a fair catch. Off-set returner Titan Lacaden caught the kickoff at the 6 and took a knee. By NCAA rule, only the returner signaling for a fair catch may field the ball. Instead of being placed at the 25, the drive started at the 6.

Sheffield said Uiliata was not the usual kickoff returner, and probably was not familiar with the rule. Uiliata took over that role after Cam Barfield suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter.

“I didn’t get it communicated well enough,” Sheffield said.

That UH drive netted a yard, forcing punter Gehrig Heil to set up in the end zone. Stanford safety Charlie Eckhardt blocked the ball out of the end zone for a safety.

The Warriors were in maximum protection, Sheffield said. “But one guy stepped the wrong way, and it opened up a gap right at the block point. And, again, that’s just football. One guy makes a mistake and it can cost everybody. I take responsibility as a coach. I’ve got to get him more prepared, and in a better situation, and better mindset, and he can perform at a higher level. And we will.”

Sean Olvera-Harle, a second-year Warrior, also missed an extra-point kick. With a powerful right leg, Olvera-Harle won the job to succeed consensus All-American Kansei Matsuzawa.

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“Obviously, he had a blunder there with the extra point,” Sheffield said. “It’s all a good learning experience. It really was his first time playing. You’ve got to live with some of those things. We’re not going to allow him to lose confidence. Right after that (miss), I told him: ‘hey, man, that’s just football. It is what it is. We move on. The good ones will be able to move on. If he can’t move on, we’ll make different decisions.”

Sheffield said the opening-game glitches are “correctable.”

“That’s the positives,” Sheffield said. “It sucks that it happened, but I choose to look at it as a learning experience rather than dwell on it. We’ve got a young football team. Sometimes you’ve got to go through some hard times. Hopefully, get that out of the way and can continue to move forward.”

Aside from the free kick following the safety, three Cardinal drives started inside their 21 on Olvera-Harle kickoffs.

Heil, who transferred from Texas in January, averaged 43 yards per punt against Stanford. During training camp, Heil was taught to roll out of the pocket and then launch bouncing punts. That punt is known as “bowler.”

“The purpose is to either kick it short and maybe hit a defender, or allow the thing to roll out,” Sheffield said. “It also helps eliminate coverage issues.”

As an assistant at Nevada, Sheffield learned the bowler from his mentor.

“He was kind of the godfather of that type of punt,” Sheffield said of Tommy Perry.

After joining UH in 2022, Sheffield added the bowler to punter Matthew Shipley’s repertoire in 2022 and 2023. Luke Borrow used the technique in 2024.

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