Seth Henigan and Brayden Schager will end their football year the same way they started it.

Memphis’ Henigan and Hawaii’s Schager will be the opposing starting quarterbacks in the Dec. 24 EasyPost Hawaii Bowl at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex.

It will be a familiar friendly rivalry for the Texas-reared quarterbacks. On Jan. 1, Henigan led Ryan High to a 17-7 victory over Schager’s Highland Park High team in Texas’ 5A Division I tournament. The previous season, Schager helped Highland Park oust Ryan from the playoffs.

A few weeks after that New Year’s Day game, Henigan enrolled at Memphis, participating in the Tigers’ spring training. Schager, who signed with UH in February, joined the Rainbow Warriors in June. Henigan led the Tigers to a 6-6 regular season. Schager was 2-1 as the Rainbow Warriors’ starter. After Chevan Cordeiro entered the transfer portal on Dec. 1, Schager was promoted to No. 1 quarterback.

“I think it’s pretty cool, two true freshman quarterbacks from Texas just putting on for the state,” Henigan said. “That’ll be really exciting for both of us.”

Henigan and Schager have communicated since the bowl pairings were announced.

“I know him, and we talked a little bit,” Henigan said.

Henigan never envisioned this scenario when he decided to relinquish his final semester at Ryan. That meant missing the Raiders’ spring sports and the senior prom.

“I missed all those things,” Henigan said. “But at the end of the day, I feel it’s helped me in what I want do in my life. You have to make sacrifices regardless of what you want to do. And for me personally, that was leave my friends and leave my family early. I got my body a little bit better, and learned the offense that spring semester. Ultimately in my opinion, it was worth it.”

During training camp, Henigan began to earn the trust of the older players. “We leaned on each other,” Henigan said. “Obviously, they were leading me, as well. It’s just co-dependency and having faith in each other, and them having faith in me. That’s really helped us with our chemistry this season.”

In 11 games, Henigan has thrown for 3,322 yards with 25 touchdowns against eight interceptions. He has completed 59.8% of his throws, including 64.5% accuracy when blitzed.

After the regular-season finale, offensive coordinator Kevin Johns gave Henigan video snippets of areas in which he needed to improve. Henigan analyzed each clip, and now plans to use the corrections in the Hawaii Bowl. He also used the past two weeks to fully heal from hand, shoulder and lower-body ailments he suffered during the season.

“I feel pretty much good to go,” Henigan said.

He also is enthused about finishing his freshman season in paradise.

“When I found out Hawaii was even an option, I was extremely excited,” Henigan said. “I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.’ My parents haven’t been there, and they’re going to go, make it a little vacation, and see me. That’ll be fun. … To be able to say this is happening and we’re going to Hawaii, it’s extremely exciting.”