Rainbow Warriors put together a “complete game” to keep bowl game hopes alive

The University of Hawai’i football team, players and coaches deserve all the compliments that came their way following their 34-13 win over Nevada last Saturday.

Because they finally played complimentary football.

All three phases of the game — offense, defense and special teams — worked in concert in the Rainbow Warriors’ victory over the Wolf Pack as they finally put together a complete game of football to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Hawai’i exorcised its red zone woes and went 6-for-6 in the red area with four rushing touchdowns by quarterback Brayden Schager and two field goals by Kansei Matsuzawa.

The Rainbow Warriors also won the turnover battle and snapped a streak of 15 consecutive quarters without a takeaway with Cam Stone’s forced fumble and Nalu Emerson’s interception on Nevada’s final play from scrimmage.

“When you play a complete game, offense, defense and special teams, it’s going to help you, to give yourself a chance to win games,” coach Timmy Chang said after the win.

“What I thought was good was the execution by the offense, the execution by the defense, and I’m looking at the red zone scoring chances of going 6-for-6. Those are all important factors to success.”

The Rainbow Warriors also snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 3-5 with four games left on the schedule. In order to be bowl-eligible, Hawai’i needs to win out the rest of the way.

“Our dreams and goals, in terms of this season, are all still out there so we understand we need to win out and that’s what we look forward to doing,” said Stone.

Hawai’i was rolling to start the contest against Nevada and took a 17-0 lead at the half. The Rainbow Warriors scored on their opening series with a 10-play drive that lasted nearly five minutes.

The defense then came up with a turnover-on-downs after Emerson sacked Wolf Pack QB Chubba Purdy for a loss inside Hawai’i territory. The offense responded with another clock-milking drive before Schager ran in his second TD of the game on a sneak.

Nevada would come up with no points once again on its following possession after a third-down tackle for no gain by Logan Taylor and a missed 46-yard field goal kept the score at 14-0. Schager would be intercepted on the next series, but the defense got his back and forced another turnover-on-downs thanks to a fourth-down pass breakup by Elijah Palmer.

The Hawai’i offense took advantage of the defensive stop and cashed in on a 27-yard field goal by Matsuzawa just before the end of the first half.

Schager spoke highly of the Hawai’i defense and defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman to Jordan Helle in the Spectrum Sports postgame interview on the pay-per-view television broadcast.

“They’ve been unbelievable. Coach DT, coach Thurman is an awesome defensive coordinator. Great due. He’s done a great job getting those guys ready and they come to play every single week and we need to start helping them out on offense and it was good to get it rolling tonight.”

Nevada scored on its first possession of the second half while Hawai’i was forced to punt before a third down pass breakup by safety Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen swung momentum back in the Rainbow Warriors’ favor.

The Rainbow Warriors then recycled the Wolf Pack’s first punt of the game into a 75-play drive that took off nearly seven minutes off the clock before Schager scored on a 3-yard draw to make the score 24-7.

On the next possession, Nevada turned it over on downs once again after Taylor and Sauce Williams came up with a stop for no gain on fourth-and-1. Hawai’i promptly scored thanks to the short field on Schager’s keeper to make it a 31-7 game early in the fourth quarter.

The Wolf Pack got back into the scoring column on the next series and recovered the ensuing onside kick before Stone’s big hit caused a fumble that was recovered by Meki Pei that the Hawai’i offense was able to recycle into a 30-yard field goal for the final points of the game.