Between the arching rainbows, the light rain and a torrent of points, it seemed as if Aloha Stadium and the team that inhabits it during the college football season were ritually cleansed Saturday night.

When the University of Hawaii’s 59-41 triumph over the Naval Academy was complete it was as if you could see — and feel — the residual disappointment and doubt of an accumulated school-record seven years without a winning record being washed down the stadium drains.

Along with the performance that signalled it, the palpable relief was reflected in more frequent and louder cheers than the old erector set of a stadium has heard in a while. Certainly more than have been been spread out over any three-hour, 20-minute span since the Western Athletic Conference championship season of 2010.

To be sure there are still 11 regular-season games to be played in determining the course of this campaign that will inevitably have its challenges, but no longer does the task ahead seem like a Sisyphean exercise.

It isn’t just the 2-0 start — we’ve been at this milepost before, of course — but the way it has been accomplished this time. Saturday night’s victory was one that burnished and built on the 43-34 thumping of Colorado State in the Rockies the week before.

The offense was more explosive, the defense more resilient, special teams more of a weapon and penalties a non-factor, all of which is saying something.

What it says here is the Rainbow Warriors have ways to win and have become confident in producing them. That’s a far cry from too many recent seasons when the first thing that could go wrong usually did, snowballing to the point that the chances of recovery were slight.

This is a revival that has been a while in coming and the feeling is cathartic for a long-suffering fan base that had dwindled significantly.

Those that had hung on did so asking for just a glimmer of hope. What appeared to be one early in the 2016 season faded in the loss to Nevada-Las Vegas. Then there was a run up to the victory over Middle Tennessee State in the Hawaii Bowl that portended better days only to be dashed by what followed in the chaos of 2017.

This summer the Little League World Series championship run provided a much-needed statewide uplifting. One that made us yearn for more to extend the shelf life of the joy.

Wizened boxing promoter Sad Sam Ichinose, calling on nearly a half-century of experience assessing what draws folks to the box office locally, used to say that winning is half the equation for Hawaii sports fans and excitement is the other half.

In his sphere that meant a boxer had to win but also had to be a puncher capable of bringing a crowd to its feet with knockouts.

What quarterback Cole McDonald is doing with Nick Rolovich and Brian Smith’s current iteration of the run-and-shoot is showing signs of providing precisely that kind of star power.

Two starts since his seeming burst out of nowhere, McDonald has been, well, dare we say Colt Brennan or Bryant Moniz-esque?

McDonald, behind an also surprisingly stout, rebuilt offensive line and complemented by a cast of fast-emerging receivers, has, so far, put up the numbers — nine touchdown passes, 846 yards and 72 percent completion percentage — that remind you of his celebrated predecessors.

Which is washing away the memories of what happened in the interim.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.