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After running out with the Hawaii football team in pregame introductions, the Little League World Champions from Honolulu were treated to a nice round of applause from the 21,954 in attendance at Aloha Stadium after UH scored its first touchdown.
During a timeout following Cole McDonald’s 6-yard throw to John Ursua for a 7-0 lead, the little leaguers, who swept their way through the LLWS, stepped on the field near the 20-year line on the south end zone side.
Head coach Gerald Oda and the team had a memorable day that began with a parade through the city.
Fast start flashes back to sweet 2007
Hawaii improved to 3-0 for the season for the first time since 2007, when it completed an undefeated 12-0 regular season before losing to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
The Rainbow Warriors have twice had opportunities to start 3-0 since, losing 34-33 at UNLV in 2009 under Greg McMackin and last year, when it lost 56-23 at UCLA to hand Nick Rolovich his first loss of the season.
Punter Gaudion has a busy day
Hawaii sophomore Stan Gaudion was called upon five times to punt the ball.
That’s a heavy workload these days with the run-and-shoot offense. UH had punted only four times in its first two games, with Gaudion handling three of the kicks and junior Ben Scruton the other. The nine total punts in three games still doesn’t equal the 11 punts Scott Harding attempted in a single game against Northern Iowa in 2014.
Playing it safely results in safety
A potential momentum-swinging fourth-down stop by the Hawaii defense on its own 1-yard line didn’t quite work out the way UH hoped.
Hawaii linebackers Solomon Matautia and Jahlani Tavai stopped Rice running back Emmanuel Esukpa inches short of the goal line for a turnover on downs on the first play of the fourth quarter.
UH’s second fourth-down stop of the game kept the score 28-13 for exactly one more play. UH called a running play from its own 1 and Fred Holly was tackled in his own end zone for a Rice safety.
The slow-developing play allowed Rice’s Martin Nwakamma to tackle Holly for two points. An Owls touchdown on the next drive suddenly made it a one-possession game in the fourth quarter.
Timeout costs UH 3 points
UH head coach Nick Rolovich wanted his offense to have the ball with as much time as possible late in the first half and called a timeout with Rice facing a third-and-15 at the UH 49 with 3:02 remaining.
The Rainbow Warriors did get the stop and forced a punt but were pinned on their own 6-yard line and had to punt it back with 54 seconds remaining.
Those extra seconds made a difference, as a 31-yard pass from Rice quarterback Shawn Stankavage to Aaron Cephus helped set up a 34-yard field goal by Jack Fox to make it a 21-10 game at the break instead of a possible two-touchdown lead for UH.
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