Wyoming whacks Hawai’i to reclaim Paniolo Trophy

Football provides the option to snatch souls or get your soul snatched.

The University of Hawai’i football team experienced the latter of the two on Saturday, seeing their losing ways in Laramie continue as Wyoming (2-2, 1-0 Mountain West) took back possession of the Paniolo Trophy with a comfortable 27-10 victory over the Rainbow Warriors.

The Cowboys racked up a season-high 387 yards as they handed Hawai’i (1-3, 0-2 Mountain West) an eighth loss in nine trips to Laramie since 1993.

QB Tyler Hughes had his best day of the young season, posting 204 yards passing while the rushing attack added 183 yards and all three of Wyoming’s touchdowns on the ground. The Cowboys also converted 6-of-12 chances on third down and won the time of possession battle by over four minutes.

Hawai’i gave up a score on the opening drive for the first time this year, seeing the Cowboys use a balance of runs and passes to the tight ends to drive 64 yards into the redzone before settling for a 28-yard field goal after five minutes of play.

The Rainbow Warriors responded in kind, kicking their own 28-yard field goal on the ensuing drive to knot the game at 3-3 through the opening quarter of play.

Wyoming re-took the lead with 10 more points in the second quarter, seeing K Erik Sandvik tack on a 23-yard field goal early in the frame before RB Markell Holman made it a 10-point lead for the hosts heading into the half with a 1-yard TD run.

Hawai’i’s offense sputtered after the game-opening 12-play field goal drive, running 15 more plays total in the first half while being forced to punt at the end of all three drives as they went into the half trailing, 13-3.

Hawaii QB Micah Alejado rolls to the left against Wyoming. | Photo Credit: Brian Bautista, HSRN

It marked the third time in four chances this season that the Rainbow Warriors went into the break without a lead, joining the slow starts from the Stanford and UNLV games.

Hawai’i’s offense took up most of the third quarter with their first drive out of halftime, taking over nine minutes to march all the way to the Wyoming 1-yard line before going for it on 4th-and-Goal and getting stonewalled to come away with no points.

The defense for the Rainbow Warriors looked as though they’d get the ball right back with good field position for the offense after forcing a punt, but two players wearing the same number on the UH return unit turned a fourth down into a fresh set of downs for the Cowboys instead.

Wyoming capitalized on the miscue from the visitors, draining the rest of the third quarter clock as they converted on a 3rd-and-15 to get into UH territory and moved into the redzone on the next play with the help of a targeting penalty against Zaden Mariteragi.

Holman opened the fourth quarter with his second touchdown of the day, taking the first snap of the final frame 18 yards to the endzone as he shook off a couple of would-be Hawai’i tacklers to make it a 20-3 lead for the Cowboys.

Hawai’i finally got a shot in the arm as tight ends Frank Abreu and Devon Tauaefa got involved offensively, helping the visitors drive 75 yards in under three minutes as Tauaefa hauled in his first touchdown since 2023 to make it a two-possession game with 12:11 to play.

Hawaii TE Devon Tauaefa celebrates after scoring his first touchdown since 2023. | Photo Credit: Brian Bautista, HSRN

The defense got the ball back for the Rainbow Warriors with just under eight minutes remaining, but a 54-yard field goal try by Sean Olvera-Harle sailed wide-right and left Hawai’i down by 10 with 4:36 left in regulation.

Wyoming drove home the dagger three minutes later as RB Samuel Harris nearly went untouched on an 18-yard dash to paydirt, putting the game out of reach to reclaim the Paniolo Trophy.

QB Micah Alejado completed 28-of-44 passes for 226 yards and one touchdown, taking three sacks in the loss for the Rainbow Warriors.

RB DeVon Rice had the most productive day for Hawai’i, posting a career-high 75 yards rushing on 12 attempts. The sophomore back also tacked on two catches for 11 yards out of the backfield.

Hawai’i returns to action next weekend to host old friend Luke Weaver and San Jose State on Saturday, October 3 in the islands. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. HT on K5 or the MW+ app.

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