Timmy Chang wanted it to be a party, and that’s what he got on lower campus at the University of Hawaii on Saturday.

Island Day went a little later into the island night than originally planned, but isn’t that how it often is with good parties?

UH’s spring football game was like none ever before, a combination of Eat the Street, a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party and a free here-comes-summer concert — all were part of the opening act for the Warriors vs. the Warriors.

It was serious work for the team as it rebuilds for the upcoming season, Chang’s first as head coach. But it was also a gift for patient fans.

“This is the first UH game we’ve been to since COVID,” said Clinton Ogata of Moanalua, a former season-ticket holder wearing a No. 14 jersey he’s had since Chang wore that number 20 years ago. He came with his wife, Dina, and 7-year-old son Koby.

They were in the Keiki Zone at Les Murakami Stadium, where kids got to throw fake axes and get their faces painted.

Kim and Joey Gushiken of Kailua brought sons Sean and Zack.

“We knew we were coming to this as soon as it was announced,” Kim said. “My husband is a die-hard fan and we went to games at Aloha Stadium. We weren’t lucky enough to get to go to any games last year when seating was limited, so this is our first time here.”

Before this, the most memorable thing I ever saw at a University of Hawaii spring football game was in 1988. For some unknown reason, Walter Payton showed up at what was then called Cooke Field.

Apparently, Sweetness’ pregame words of wisdom were more inspirational to the Green team than the White, which won with Warren Jones outplaying Garrett Gabriel at quarterback.

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But Gabriel ended up starting in the fall, and the rest is history, with him leading UH to those blowouts of hated BYU and attaining legend status.

There’s no real moral to that story, other than you can’t make assumptions based on what happens in spring games.

They do, however, give the coaches lots of information to work with as they build the team that will take the field in the fall, and the players get a better idea of where they are and what they need to do.

But there are always some quick observations to make, that might or might not matter in the upcoming season:

Brayden Schager looked very solid at quarterback, with pocket awareness uncommon for a player still in his first year of college and good accuracy; his passes were on target nearly 100 percent (including that one to the guy in the third row when Schager was forced to get rid of the ball).

Then there’s Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala, who covered 75 yards on a pass from Jake Farrell faster than you can say his name. The junior wide receiver from Kapolei scored three times in the first half, including another pass from Farrell.

Schager and Farrell were both good, and you get the feeling that the battle for starting quarterback might not be settled soon.

Every time I saw running back Dedrick Parson carry the ball I thought get that guy out of there already … not because he was doing anything wrong, but the opposite: The Warriors are going to need him at full strength in the fall, and he’s got nothing to prove.

There was just one turnover in the first half, the first of two interceptions by Leonard Lee.

While the starting contenders at quarterback were in, the offenses mostly moved the ball at will … but of course it comes with that spring game caveat of it being against their teammates on defense.

There are a couple of quantifiable things you can look at as good signs even though they’re playing against themselves: There was only one dropped pass in the first half, and either the penalty flags were stuck in the refs’ pockets, or the Warriors played nearly infraction-free football.

Plus, a 55-yard field goal is a 55-yard field goal whether it’s in the Super Bowl, Pop Warner or a college spring game. And Matthew Shipley made one of those Saturday, with plenty of room to spare.

As for what was on the bad side that was easy to see at a glance? The Warriors made too many bad snaps.

Of course there’s plenty more than that to fix, on both sides of the ball. But as far as spring games go, this was pretty smooth … and there was a lot more for the fans than just the game.