Hawaii football team falls short, 27-24, to San Diego State
ABE ARREDONDO / IMAGN IMAGES
San Diego State running back Marquez Cooper (15) runs the ball against Hawaii defensive lineman Jackie Johnson III (57) in the third quarter of the Mountain West Conference game Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. SDSU beat Hawaii, 27-24.
Marquez Cooper rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns and scored the game-winning TD on a 2-yard run with 7:07 remaining to give San Diego State a 27-24 win over Hawaii in the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams today at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, Calif.
Hawaii (2-3, 0-1), which dropped to 0-4 after bye weeks under third-year head coach Timmy Chang, took its first lead with 9:44 remaining in the fourth quarter on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Schager to Nick Cenacle.
The Aztecs (2-3, 1-0) snapped a three-game losing streak with a scoring drive of 87 yards in eight plays to retake the lead.
UH converted on fourth and 18 when Schager found Pofele Ashlock for 19 yards to put the ball in SDSU territory on its next drive.
Schager hit Ashlock for 15 yards on third-and-17 to set up a fourth-and-2 at the SDSU 31 with less than two minutes to go.
Hawaii had two timeouts and was in Kansei Matsuzawa’s field-goal range but elected instead to go for it.
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>> PHOTOS: Hawaii vs. SDSU
It ran a quick pass short of the marker that was caught by Ashlock, but he fumbled into the hands of Cenacle, who was tackled well short of the first-down marker.
UH forced an SDSU punt with 12 seconds remaining but didn’t have enough time to do anything with it.
Schager finished 26-for-44 for 272 yards and three touchdowns and was intercepted once.
Ashlock, Cenacle and Tylan Hines caught touchdown pass for Hawaii, which has won only one game on the road in three years under Chang.
Hawaii returns home to host nationally ranked Boise State on Oct. 12 at 5 p.m.
