Hawai’i gets back in win column with Week 4 beatdown of Northern Iowa 

HONOLULU – Needed that one. 

Hawai’i (2-2) got back on track in a big way against Northern Iowa (2-2) on Saturday night, pounding the Panthers in Mānoa, 36-7, for the 22nd consecutive win against an FCS opponent for the program. UH quarterback Brayden Schager had his best game of the season, completing his first 12 passes and going 35-of-43 overall for 374 yards while tying a career-high with four touchdown passes in the win. 

The offense was firing on all cylinders for UH as the Rainbow Warriors out-gained the FCS-representative Panthers in yards, 528 to 199, while controlling the time of possession battle by spending 33:02 of game clock with the ball. The running attack finally found legs for Hawai’i, breaking loose for a season-best 149 yards on the ground over 23 carries to deliver the biggest margin of victory in head coach Timmy Chang’s three-year stint. 

The 199 total yards given up by Hawai’i is the best defensive performance in more than half-a-decade as the least amount of offense allowed by a UH defense since the Rainbow Warriors held Duquesne to 166 total yards in 2018. The victory also marked the first time that UH will enter a bye week coming off a win under Chang, losing their previous three games ahead of bye weeks since the 3rd-year head coach took over. 

The Rainbow Warriors started hot as sophomore LB Jamih Otis recovered a fumble that CB Caleb Brown popped free from Amauri Pesek-Hickson at Hawai’i’s own 30-yard line to halt the game’s opening drive. The offense returned the favor with points, marching 70 yards down the field in six plays for a score as Brayden Schager connected with Jonah Panoke for a 24-yard touchdown. 

The good vibes on “Disco Night” continued as the defense forced a punt by the Panthers on the next drive with the help of an offensive pass interference call on UNI. The offense continued to provide the “compliment” in complimentary football as Schager, who started his program record-tying 26th straight game at QB (T-1st, Bryant Moniz), connected with WR Dekel Crowdus on the longest offensive play of the season for Hawai’i, a 59-yard reception to set up the Rainbow Warriors on the UNI 2-yard line. 

After a pre-snap penalty backed up UH on 2nd-and-goal, Schager stepped back and swung it over to Pofele Ashlock for a 6-yard touchdown and Landon Sims tossed the ball to long snapper Hunter Higham for a successful 2-point conversion right after to make it 15-0 with 40 seconds left in the opening quarter. It was the third straight game that Ashlock has scored a touchdown, the first such streak of his career. 

Northern Iowa failed to answer back again on the next drive, seeing an offensive pass interference call push the team back before a nice pass breakup by Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen forced another punt from the Panthers. 

Again, the Hawai’i offense began to move down the field with ease as Schager continued to dice up the UNI defense before he finally threw his first incompletion of the night with 11:27 remaining in the first half. The senior gunslinger quickly returned to form as he found Nick Cenacle for his 48th career TD pass, a 20-yard score, to move past Garrett Gabriel (‘87-’90) for sole possession of 5th place all-time among Hawai’i quarterbacks and push the lead to 22-0 with 9:10 left in the 2nd quarter. 

Northern Iowa finally got on the board with 4:02 left in the opening half of play, seeing starting QB Aidan Dunne sneak his way into the end zone from three yards out to make it a 22-7 game. The Panthers converted an early 3rd-and-5 inside UNI territory to keep the drive alive and got into the red zone following a nice play action pass to tight end Derek Anderson for 26 yards and a defensive pass interference penalty on Hawai’i safety Peter Manuma.  

The Hawai’i offense had the shakiest showing all night over the final four minutes of the first half as Schager was intercepted twice over the next two drives, but the Rainbow Warrior defense held strong both times to send the teams into the locker rooms with UH leading by 15. 

After seeing the opening drive of the 2nd half stall after a tough Alex Perry drop on 3rd-and-10 from midfield, the defense once again shut down Northern Iowa by forcing a three-and-out to give the offense the ball right back on their own 22. 

Hawai’i had a brief injury scare with Schager about midway through the 3rd quarter after the senior took a hard hit when scrambling out near midfield for a first down, though it did not hold the quarterback out of any snaps from the drive. The offense marched down the field in 11 plays and was capped off by the second scoring connection between Cenacle and Schager, a 2-yard pass to push the UH lead to 29-7 with 3:21 remaining in the frame. 

The catch gave Cenacle his first career multi-score game in his junior season. For the Canadian-born wide out, it was a breakout performance with a career-best nine receptions on 10 targets for 63 yards and the two TDs. 

The Panthers made a QB switch on the following drive as backup Matthew Schecklman took over for the visitors, helping move UNI into Hawai’i territory to begin the 4th quarter before Peter Manuma punched a ball free from Layne Pryor and Deliyon Freeman recovered it for the Rainbow Warriors to end the threat. 

UH added the cherry on top on the next drive as Ashlock, Panoke and Crowdus each had catches to bring Hawai’i into the red zone and give Landon Sims an opportunity for his first touchdown of the year, a 6-yard run to paydirt to give the Rainbow Warriors a 36-7 lead. 

Backup quarterbacks John-Keawe Sagapolutele and Micah Alejado rotated snaps on the final possession for Hawai’i as head coach Timmy Chang attempted to get both of his freshmen quarterbacks game reps in the final non-conference game of the season for Hawai’i. Alejado, a true freshman out of Bishop Gorman, completed his lone pass attempt for five yards to Spencer Curtis while Sagapolutele, a redshirt freshman out of Punahou, did not attempt a throw. 

Hawai’i sophomore Pofele Ashlock led the Rainbow Warriors with 10 receptions, going for 74 yards and a touchdown in the win. Dekel Crowdus added 83 yards receiving on three catches on a night that nine different players recorded a catch for the Rainbow Warriors. 

Four different running backs averaged of five or more yards per carry as Landon Sims (7 rush, 35 yards & 1 TD), Christian Vaughn (4 rush, 34 yards), David Cordero (4 rush, 28 yards) and Tylan Hines (2 rush, 22 yards) all provided productive touches out of the backfield for the Rainbow Warriors. 

The two-headed beast of a backfield for UNI, Amauri Pesek-Hickson and Tye Edwards, combined for only 60 yards on 14 carries throughout the evening as the Hawai’i defense keyed in on the backs and UNI went to the air more frequently after falling behind early. Quarterback Aidan Dunne finished his night completing 13-of-20 passes for 104 yards while accounting for the lone UNI touchdown of the night.

The defense for UH locked in and dominated from start to finish as UNI was held to a season-low 72 rushing yards. Hawai’i also recorded a pair of sacks, one by Jamih Otis and one by Jackie Johnson III, who has been the best pass rusher in the early going this season for the Rainbow Warriors. 

Hawai’i safety Peter Manuma tied for the team lead with five tackles while also forcing a fumble for the Rainbow Warriors. Linebacker Jamih Otis looked to be closer to full health again as well, registering a fumble recovery to go along with a sack in the win for UH. 

The Rainbow Warriors now enter the second of three bye weeks on the 2024 schedule before starting Mountain West play on the road, visiting San Diego State on October 5 for an interesting conference matchup in Week 6.