UH leads Colorado 17-0 at the half
After Hawaii built a 17-0 halftime lead in today’s nonconference football game at Aloha Stadium, Colorado answered the call on the first drive of the second half.
The Buffaloes went 73 yards on only six plays to cut UH’s lead to 17-7 with 12:02 left in the third quarter. Two big pass plays were the difference. The first was a 52-yard screen pass from Colorado quarterback Tyler Hansen to running back Rodney Stewart.
The UH defense was confused prior to the snap and should have called timeout. Instead, the big play woke up the Buffaloes, who scored on the next play as Hansen found Paul Richardson for a 15-yard score. Will Oliver added the PAT as CU moved to within 10.
Hawaii responded with a 47-yard kickoff return by Mike Edwards that put life back into the Aloha Stadium crowd that was still a little stunned by CU’s score. The drive started at the Colorado 48 and once again Moniz had UH moving in the right direction.
Several pass plays and runs gave UH a first and goal at the 7. Two plays later, Moniz faked the handoff up the middle and then bootlegged in from 1 yard out to make it 24-7 with 5:59 left in the third quarter.
Hawaii led 17-0 at the half not on the arm of Moniz, but with his feet.
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He scored twice on runs of 53 and 14 yards in the second quarter against a Buffaloes defense designed to stop the aerial assault of Moniz not his running ability. Moniz had nine carries for 120 yards that included three sacks by Colorado.
Moniz’s first touchdown came early in the second quarter on the opening play of a drive that began at the UH 43. Moniz faked a handoff, then kept it up the left side and went untouchded for a 57-yard touchdown that gave UH a 10-0 advantage with 10:39 left in the half after Kenton Chun added the PAT.
And Moniz wasn’t done yet. With 2:14 left in the half, UH moved the ball methodically down the field on a drive that began at its own 13. Moniz had a 10-yard scamper on a big third-down play and then found Billy Ray Stutzmann for a 28-yard completion that gave UH the ball at Colorado’s 14.
After a UH timeout, Hawaii dialed up an option play to the short side of the field that resulted in a 14-yard touchdown scamper for Moniz, who again, went in untouched. Chun added the PAT to give UH a 17-0 advantage with 24 seconds left in the half.
After both teams traded three and outs to start the game, the Warriors set up shop at their own 16, but quickly moved down the field on a pair of nice runs by Moniz off broken pass plays.
The first one of 22 yards on a third-down play gave the Warriors their first first down of the season. Two plays later, Moniz broke off a 34-yard run and another 12 yards was tacked for a late hit.
That put the Warriors first and 10 at the Coloado 13, but two incomplete passes and a sack led to a 38-yard field goal by Chun that hit the right upright, but fell over the bar to make it 3-0 with 9:49 left in the first quarter. Moniz was 1-for-7 for 3 yards on his first two series.
For the half, he completed only 10 of 19 for 100 yards.