MĀNOA — They took their lumps early but believed in each other and stayed together until the end. Facing a situation that once seemed insurmountable, they continued to plug away for the person next to them. By the end of it, tears were shed and there we too many hugs among them to count.
Perhaps no game in Timmy Chang's four years as the University of Hawai‘i football program's head coach symbolized his tenure more than the team's dramatic, improbable and historic 35-31 victory over California in the Hawai‘i Bowl on Wednesday at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.
The Rainbow Warriors, down 21-0 in the second quarter, staged the biggest comeback in the existence of the Hawai‘i Bowl, a game that debuted in 2002, back when Chang was UH's quarterback. Chang won two Hawai‘i Bowl MVPs as a player and was coaching in it for the first time on Wednesday. How did he compare the two experiences?
"I think it's better now (as a coach), because I think I'm helping raise leaders in the community and building young men to just be great fathers and husbands, and we can come out here and win games as well as do those things. I think that's the joy that I have now being older," said Chang with tears in his eyes after the game. "It's one thing to go out there and go play and have the competition, but I totally love being a coach, and I love coaching the University of Hawai‘i."
After going 3-10 in his 2022 following the fallout of the Todd Graham era, Chang and the Rainbow Warriors finished the 2025 season 9-4, their highest win total of the decade. Wednesday's contest against the Golden Bears (7-6) was the program's first Hawai‘i Bowl since 2019 and first bowl since 2020.
"They're gritty," Chang said of his team. "They've learned how to fight through adversity. I would say the first three years taught us the ways not to fight through adversity, and this year has taught us the ways that we can handle adversity and continue to propel ourselves. I think the game of college football, or the game of football, is not too complicated, right? You make mistakes. You know you're going to lose games. You make mistakes and you keep battling back. You keep fighting through. It's never perfect, so is life."
In a game flush with local ties and storylines, it was Cal who came out blazing in the Mānoa sun on Wednesday.
After Hawai‘i punted on the game's opening possession, Cal struck early with a 41-yard touchdown pass from freshman sensation Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, a Campbell alumnus, to Jacob De Jesus with 7:01 left in the first quarter. Sagapolutele was an efficient 5-for-5 with 64 yards on the first Cal possession.
The Rainbow Warriors went scoreless in the first quarter as Kansei Matsuzawa missed a 50-yard field goal attempt, just his second miss of the year.
Cal took a 14-0 lead when running back Kendrick Raphael went 19 yards to the end zone untouched in the first play of the second quarter. The onslaught appeared to be on when Anthony League put Cal ahead 21-0 with 9:38 left in the second quarter.
Cal's early lead did not deter the sellout turnstile crowd of 14,301, the vast majority of whom stayed in their seats from the sunny 3 p.m. kickoff to the game's dramatic finish.
Hawai‘i got on the board with a 13-yard touchdown from Micah Alejado to Pofele Ashlock with 3:57 left in the second quarter, then trimmed the lead to 21-10 after a 29-yard Kansei Matsuzawa field goal with 27 seconds left in the first half.
A 39-yard Matsuzawa field goal cut Cal's lead to 21-13 with 5:58 left in the third quarter. The Rainbow Warriors then tied the game on Alejado's 3-yard touchdown pass to Ashlock and ensuing underhand pass to Cam Barfield on the two-point conversion, tying things at 21 with 13:50 left in the fourth quarter.
After Chase Meyer's 22-yard chip shot put California broke the tie, Hawai‘i took its first lead of the game on a 17-yard touchdown from Alejado to Brandon White.
Cal answered with a quarterback sneak from Sagapolutele to go back up 31-28 with 1:57 remaining. Down to one timeout, Chang says the Rainbow Warriors were more than content with getting in field goal range to give Matsuzawa, an All-American kicker, an opportunity to send the game to overtime.
Alejado, whose helmet fell off multiple times throughout the course of the contest, also took a number of big hits that caused him to stay down on the turf. The final instance saw the redshirt freshman rolling around in pain, forcing the 'Bows to use their final timeout.
Trusty backup Luke Weaver entered the game in Alejado's place and wasn't thinking tie, floating a 22-yard touchdown to Nick Cenacle with 10 seconds left.
"It was God working through me, working through our team. Just all season, that was just God's work," Weaver said. "I said a quick little prayer before I went out there, and I feel like he took care of the rest. It's pretty surreal."
In the final play of the game, Cal desperately tried to prolong the game with laterals, only for Hawai‘i to get the final stop on its own 42 yard line. After the victory was sealed, the teams engaged in a brief skirmish.
"I think these guys are definitely a rival now," UH senior running back Landon Sims said. "They really thought they were Hawai‘i's team and that's the title that we hold and we're proud of."
Sims was supposed to play in his first Hawai‘i Bowl in 2021, but the game was canceled due to a Covid-19 outbreak within the team. Less than a month later, Chang was introduced as the team's new head coach following dozens of player departures and a Hawai‘i Senate hearing against Graham.
"A lot of guys down 21 points, that's a tough spot to be in. This is just one of those memorable games that will go down in Hawai‘i history that you can never forget," Sims said. "We've always been the underdogs. I don't think you could have really written a better script than tonight.
"Just so proud of these guys. It's just a hell of finish."
The quarterback duel between Alejado and Sagapolutele lived up to the hype, as Alejado completed 32 of his 46 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Sagapolutele went 28-for-39 with 343 yards and a touchdown. Neither team turned the ball over, a Hawai‘i Bowl first.
Ashlock was named the Hawai‘i Bowl MVP after catching 14 passes for 123 yards and a pair of touchdowns, shouldering the load at receiver following the early departure of Jackson Harris.
"I think lately, I haven't been confident in the most ways. So, going out there was just amazing, just going out there and just playing my game, and having Micah just be right there with me and the team right there with me, and to come out here and do it in the biggest stage, in front of a whole bunch of fans, man, it was amazing," Ashlock said.
Peter Manuma and Wynden Ho‘ohuli each had eight tackles to lead UH, while Cal safety Aiden Manutai, a Kahuku product, had three tackles.
California interim head coach Nick Rolovich, who was thrust into the role after the firing of Justin Wilcox, dropped to 34-34 in his career. Rolovich was a UH quarterback from 2000 to 2001, a student assistant from 2003 to 2004, an assistant coach from 2008 to 2011 and the head coach from 2016 to 2019 before taking the Washington State job. Following the game, Rolovich is set to begin his post as Cal's quarterbacks coach and assistant head coach under new head coach Tosh Lupoi.
"Incredible emotional ride for me this week," Rolovich said. "Not only coming back to UH. The Sheraton bowl, I don't know if there's a better bowl in the country, the experience they gave these guys. When you wear that (Hawai‘i) jersey, you know what it's gonna be like and you're gonna fight until the end and they did and they deserve credit for that."
With the 2025 season complete, the next event on the docket for the Rainbow Warriors is the upcoming NCAA Transfer Portal period, which runs from Jan. 2-16. Spring practices have yet to be announced for the 'Bows. Hawai‘i will begin its 2026 regular season at Stanford.
Alejado, battling a season-long ankle injury, believes the win will serve as a launch pad for what figures to be a promising 2026 for the 'Bows.
"It's a great launch pad for us. This definitely was a turnaround year for us, and just showing the state our potential, getting the state back," Alejado said. "Going into next year full steam ahead with all the momentum, we're excited to start doing it again."
Chang, meanwhile, after coaching in his first bowl game, can say with full certainty that participating in a bowl game beats watching one.
"Ironically, a year ago, we were in one of these suites right behind us, raising NIL money to keep our program together and keep our core guys here, and that's so important for us as we develop guys like Pofele Ashlock. I can go on and on about the guys that we have here, that we want in our program," Chang said.
"If you guys like the product, the state of Hawai‘i likes the product that's on the field, continue to support our football team in those ways and the monetary ways that's needed in college football now."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
