Freshman Keola Antolin may have stolen the show at Arizona Stadium during the Wildcats’ 42-27 win over No. 25 California Saturday night, but UA quarterback Willie Tuitama was the one who put his name into Arizona’s record books.

Tuitama passed Tom Tunnicliffe (1980-83) as the program’s all-time leading passer, finishing the night with 7,814 yards, and all-time leader in total offense with 7,365. Tuitama went 16-for-27 for 225 yards in the game and tossed two touchdowns, one each to wide receiver Mike Thomas and tight end Rob Gronkowski.

Breaking the record was inevitable, but Thomas said Tuitama hadn’t talked about it much during the season.

“”I think you thrive on (breaking records) when you’re 30, 40, around all your friends playing dominos and that kind of thing,”” Thomas said. “”I didn’t know anything about it, and I don’t really think he knew too much about it (during the preseason) until it was done, and that’s a good mentality to have.””

Tuitama, the Wildcats’ senior signal caller, entered the game just 30 yards shy of being Arizona’s all-time leading passer. In the first quarter, Tuitama’s 13-yard pass to sophomore wide out Delashaun Dean provided the necessary yardage to break Tunnicliffe’s passing record of 7,618 yards.

In the third quarter, a 35-yard touchdown pass to Gronkowski made Tuitama Arizona’s leader and vaulted him to the top of the list in total offense.

After a breakout 2007 season in which he passed for 3,683 passing yards and 28 touchdowns – both single season school records – Tuitama continues to print his name in Arizona’s record books. He is also the program’s leader in attempts (1,092), completions (667), and touchdowns (59).

“”It’s nice, especially having the win,”” Tuitama said of the records. “”Later I’ll look back at and take it all in, but right now we have to keep moving forward.””