Fresno State routs visiting Hawaii 55-13
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fresno State wide receiver Nikko Remigio catches a pass next to Hawaii defensive back Kaulana Makaula.
FRESNO >>Daylight saving wound down with the Fresno State football team’s lights-out, 55-13 rout of Hawaii tonight at Valley Children’s Stadium.
The Rainbow Warriors lost the coin toss, failed to nail the field goal on their opening drive, and then things went dark after that.
The Bulldogs rolled up 572 yards — 327 on Jake Haener passes — to win their fourth in a row and improve to 5-4 overall and 4-1 in the Mountain West.
The Warriors, who fell to 2-8 and 1-4, had lost their previous three league games by an average margin of 4.3 points. But there was no suspense once the Bulldogs got on a roll.
Last year, Haener was intercepted four times in the Bulldogs’ loss at the Ching Complex. But Haener, who returned last week after missing four games with an ankle injury, was on the mark against every form of defensive scheme. Haener was 24-for-29 when he exited after throwing his fourth scoring pass.
Jordan Mims led the Bulldogs with 123 rushing yards and a touchdown.
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With 24 seconds left in the first half, UH quarterback Brayden Schager took a knee as both teams ran toward their locker rooms. The runaway, in actuality, began much earlier. In taking a 31-0 lead at the intermission, the Bulldogs rolled up 272 yards, an average of 7.0 yards per play.
>> PHOTOS: Fresno State vs. Hawaii
Haener, who was picked as the league’s preseason offensive player of the year, was 18-for-23 for 178 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. On the first scoring pass, Jalen Moreno-Cropper broke free on a scramble play to secure the 7-yard touchdown. Haener’s second touchdown pass was tipped by dime back Kaulana Makaula near the goal line. Erik Brooks grabbed the football to complete the first-half scoring.
In interviews this week, Fresno State cornerback Cameron Lockridge joked that Schager would throw a pass to him. The prediction was realized when Lockridge stepped in front of slotback Dior Scott, seized Schager’s underthrown pass and raced 31 yards for the pick-6.
Lockridge was one of eight defensive starters to transfer from UH at the end of a tumultuous 2021 season. He initially committed to South Alabama, then redirected his pledge to Fresno State.
Hawaii’s best scoring opportunity in the first half failed when Matthew Shipley was wide right on a field-goal attempt from 48 yards.
