Colleges
Rainbow Warriors fall to Fresno State, 31-21


  



Sat, Nov 11, 2017 @ Aloha Stadium [ 6:00 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Fresno State 0 21 10 031
Hawaii 7 0 0 1421

HALAWA — The University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors seemed prime to mount a furious comeback but ultimately fell short to Fresno State, 31-21, on a stormy Saturday evening at Hawaiian Tel FCU Field at Aloha Stadium.

Down 31-7 after three quarters, Hawaii QB Dru Brown capped a nine-play, 75-yard drive with a 15-yard strike to Dylan Collie over the middle for a touchdown. The two connected again to convert on the 2-point conversion attempt to make it 31-15.

On the third play of Fresno State's ensuing possession, senior defensive lineman David Manoa got a finger on a pass and was tipped in the air and caught by Solomon Matautia (Campbell '15) and returned 19 yards for an interception return touchdown. Hawaii again went for a 2-point conversion but failed, making the score 31-21 with just over 13 minutes left.

"After the pick six, it gave everybody hope. It motivated everybody to win. We were that close so it gave us a chance," Matautia said, who recorded his team-leading third interception of the season.

The Bulldogs got the ball back and chewed up four minutes of game time before missing on a 54-yard field goal attempt.

The Rainbow Warriors offense went three and out, but the defense later came up big again with freshman defensive back Eugene Ford getting his first career interception to give UH the ball at the Fresno 45.

Hawaii drove down 40 yards to the five-yard line, but on second and goal, Brown rolled right and heaved a toss to the back corner of the end zone and was picked off to seal the Bulldogs' victory.

"The character they showed not to quit when they were down. They knew that was their last 15 minutes to keep their bowl dreams alive, maybe that was it," Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich said. "There's two games left for these seniors who have given a lot to this program and we owe it them to give it all we have."

Hawaii WR Kumoku Noa (Kamehameha '16) looks to the crowd following his first collegiate touchdown reception in the first quarter. John Lujan | SL    View image

Midway through the second quarter, the game was suspended for a 40-minute lightning delay.

Prior to that, UH struck first on its second drive of the game.

On fourth and 10 at the Fresno 31, Brown hit redshirt freshman WR Kumoku Noa for 11 yards to move the chains. After three handoffs to senior RB Diocemy Saint Juste, Brown hit Noa again on a quick out to the left pylon for a seven-yard touchdown.

The Kamehameha '16 grad was targeted five times, finishing with four receptions for 34 yards.

Fresno State sustained scoring drives of 10, five, eight, nine and six plays.

Leilehua '16 grad Netane Muti got the start at left guard for the Bulldogs.

The loss drops Hawaii to 3-7 (1-6 Mountain West) on the season. With only two games remaining, the Rainbow Warriors will be unable to reach the postseason bowl game eligiblity requirement of a .500 record. UH may be able to still land a spot in a bowl game if a situation arises similar to last year where there aren't enough bowl eligible teams to fill all available spots. As of now, there are only 19 open spots remaining.

Hawaii travels to Logan, Utah next Saturday to take on Utah State before returning home for the season finale against BYU on Nov. 25.



Reach Spencer Honda at [email protected].




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