In a contest where both offenses were firing on all cylinders, the University of Hawai‘i football team endured a late surge to prevail 44-35 at Air Force on Saturday afternoon.
Hawai‘i improved to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in Mountain West Conference play, bouncing back from a narrow home loss against Fresno State. Meanwhile, Air Force dropped to 1-3 overall and 0-3 in conference games.
Although Air Force entered Saturday's contest third in the FBS in time of possession, it was Hawai‘i who controlled the clock on Saturday at Falcon Stadium. The Rainbow Warriors held the ball for 37:24 compared to Air Force's time of possession of 22:36.
In the opening drive of the game, a 59-yard pass from Micah Alejado to Cam Barfield set up a 6-yard touchdown pass from Alejado to Jackson Harris.
Led by Alejado, the Rainbow Warrior offense never looked back. Alejado completed 35 of his 47 passes for 457 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Meanwhile, the Hawai‘i running game was boosted by touchdowns from Barfield and Landon Sims.
In total, the Rainbow Warriors racked up 535 yards of offense.
Not to be outdone, Air Force put up 494 yards of offense. Quarterback Liam Szarka completed 10 of his 12 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns and also added 139 rushing yards on 17 carries.
While UH never trailed on Saturday, Air Force's offense steadily applied the pressure with scoring drives. The Rainbow Warriors continued to answer the bell in intense situations, including Harris' second receiving touchdown of the game with 5:06 remaining in the fourth quarter. Harris finished with 144 receiving yards on seven receptions.
With the lead and control of the ball late in the game, Hawai‘i decided to play keepaway from Air Force, taking knees with a 6-point lead at the Air Force 1-yard line instead of trying to punch the ball in. Kansei Matsuzawa sealed the game with a 25-yard field goal with 34 seconds left, giving the Rainbow Warriors a two-possession lead for the game's final score. Matsuzawa made three field goals and five extra points on Saturday, upping his season total to 16-for-16 on field goals and 14-for-14 on extra points.
Defensively, Hawai‘i had five tackles for loss, including two sacks. Punahou alumnus Matagi Thompson had a key interception for the Rainbow Warriors in the third quarter after Luther McCoy hit Szarka while he was throwing.
Hawai‘i will enter its first bye week of the season before hosting Utah State on Oct. 11.
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
