Season ends for pair of injured Warriors

The football season has ended for two University of Hawaii players.

Strong safety Trayvon Henderson will undergo season-ending surgery for a torn ACL suffered against Ohio State two weekends ago.

In that same game, long-snapper Brian Hittner was injured while making a tackle. Hittner, who suffered a spinal bruise, has accepted a medical retirement. He will remain on scholarship.

Henderson, a junior who has never redshirted, is eligible to apply for a medical redshirt because he has not played in more than three games this season before being injured.

Daniel Lewis, a sophomore, started at strong safety in Saturday’s 47-27 victory over UC Davis. Dejaun Butler, Damien Packer, Dany Mulanga and Gaetano DeMattei also can play strong safety.

In three years, Henderson has played 24 games, starting 13.

Hittner joined the Rainbow Warriors as a walk-on in 2014. He pondered leaving the program after that season because of financial reasons. But he changed his mind, participated in spring training, and was awarded a football scholarship this summer.

Hittner was perfect on 104 snaps during his UH career.

Noah Borden, who returned from a two-year church mission this spring, will handle the long snaps on punt attempts. Brodie Nakama is the short-snapper for field-goal attempts and point-after kicks.

There was good news for the Warriors on Monday, with inside linebacker Jerrol Garcia-Williams being named the Mountain West Conference’s defensive player of the week. Against UC Davis, Garcia-Williams made a career-high 15 tackles, including 12 solo stops. Garcia-Williams and Lewis teamed to force a crucial fumble on fourth-and-1 in the third quarter.

“I don’t look at it as a standout performance by me,” Garcia-Williams said. “A lot of people had a good game. I’m happy somebody from Hawaii got the award.”

Garcia-Williams missed all but two games in 2014 after suffering a torn ACL and meniscus in his left knee.

“It was really hard sitting out, missing a full year,” Garcia-Williams said. “Having to go through the whole rehab, it wasn’t easy. In the beginning, it was painful. But as I went on, it got easier and easier.”

WARRIORS’ 2015 SCHEDULE