Huge defensive day helps Arizona roll over Hawaii

Road woes continue for the Rainbow Warriors.

Behind five forced turnovers and a relentless pass rush, the University of Arizona doused the excitement coming from the islands on Saturday with a 40-6 walloping of the University of Hawaii.

Despite entering the weekend still hurting from last week’s victory over Stanford, UH QB Micah Alejado got the start for the Rainbow Warriors and completed 18-of-31 pass attempts for 157 yards and his first collegiate interception before exiting in the third quarter after he was stepped on and reaggravated his lower leg injury.

“He came in banged up, but he gutted it out, played tough,” head coach Timmy Chang said of Alejado following the game. “I think he was healthy enough to play, he wanted to give it a go. He’s going to be fine, I think. He just got stepped on.”

The fourth-year head coach turned to Modesto College transfer QB Luke Weaver for the final quarter and change of action. The junior signal caller turned in a mixed bag of results, completing 8-of-16 of his passes for 66 yards while getting intercepted twice and running for 17 yards while being credited with one fumble lost.

It was another slow start for Hawaii (1-1), who went three-and-out after receiving the opening kickoff and watched as Arizona (1-0) returned the punt 41 yards and used four total plays to march down the field for the first touchdown of the night. Wildcats RB Kedrick Reescano capped off the drive with a 13-yard scoring scamper, putting the hosts from the Big 12 up 7-0 before three minutes of clock had elapsed.

Hawaii seemed to settle in on the following drive, watching as Alejado helped point guard the offense 59 yards down the field across 15 plays before finally settling for a 34-yard field goal from K Kansei Matsuzawa.

The Rainbow Warrior defense followed up the score by forcing one of what ended up as four total punts from the Wildcats, but UH was unable to capitalize as Alejado fumbled on a sack out near midfield for his second turnover of the season. Arizona found the endzone two plays later when RB Quincy Craig, who transferred to Tucson in the offseason from Portland State, took his first Wildcat touch 54 yards for the score.

Each team added a field goal before the first half ended as UH’s defense finally held strong against Arizona in the red zone and the Rainbow Warriors converted on an end-of-half scramble scenario from 41 yards out to go into the locker room trailing, 17-6.

“I thought early on, we had a chance to move the ball on them and put ourselves in a better position,” Chang said of his team’s offense in the opening 30 minutes. “They had some explosive plays on offense and that helps them. We just got to be better.”

Things went from tough to rough in the second half as UH went three-and-out on the first two offensive chances in the second half while Arizona tacked on another TD on their opening drive of the third quarter. A screen pass to Cam Barfield bounced off the back’s hands on the next drive, going down for the first pick thrown by Alejado since his junior year of high school.

Set up inside the Hawaii 10-yard line, Arizona QB Noah Fifita took it upon himself to capitalize on the turnover by using his legs and scrambling for a 10-yard touchdown to push the Wildcats’ lead to 31-6 with just over 6 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Alejado went down on the following drive for UH after getting stepped on, ending his night and waving the white flag for the visitors.

Luke Weaver showed flashes while filling in for Alejado in garbage time, leading a pair of drives into Arizona territory before throwing a couple of interceptions of his own.  The junior took ownership for his turnovers following the game, stating the need to be better in future opportunities.

Ismali Mahdi capped the scoring for the night with a five-yard touchdown run with 4:29 left to play, putting a bow on a 40-6 blowout by Arizona.

QB Noah Fifita started his junior campaign off with a solid showing, completing 13-of-23 passes for 161 yards and a passing touchdown while also adding a score with his legs. The Wildcats tore up the Hawaii run defense, racing across the turf for nearly 200 yards on the ground and four of the five team touchdowns.

Landon Sims turned in the best day for Hawaii, rushing for 41 yards on nine carries and adding three catches for another 48 yards. Redshirt freshman WR Tama Uiliata had a nice second half as he showed a connection with Weaver, hauling in four receptions for 37 yards and drawing a defensive pass interference in the end zone.

The main concern for the Rainbow Warriors going forward will be surrounding starting QB Micah Alejado, who said he felt good after the game despite getting stepped on. Hawaii does not have the team’s first bye week until after the sixth game of the season, leaving little time for rest.

“Of course it’s frustrating, but it just comes with football,” Alejado responded when asked about having to spend another week rehabbing an injury. “I just got to do what I’ve got to do to get better.”

Alejado’s status was up in the air all the way up to Saturday’s pregame warmups, where he tested the injury and felt good enough to play. He was grateful for the opportunity to try to start, even if it may have been against better judgement.

“I was good enough to go,” the redshirt freshman responded when asked about his health ahead of kickoff. “Coach Chang allowed me to play, and you know, I appreciate him for that. At the end of the day, it probably wasn’t the best decision to play, but I was good enough to play.”

Hawaii returns home to host Sam Houston (0-2) next weekend for the first 6 p.m. HT kickoff of the season.