Hawaii football falters late in 17-13 loss to Colorado State

The University of Hawaii football team lost 17-13 to Colorado State on Saturday after being outscored 14-0 in the second half.

After getting its first conference win against Nevada last week, Hawaii falls to 2-6 overall and 1-2 in Mountain West play, while Colorado State improves to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in Mountain West games.

Hawaii scored on the opening drive of the game on a 27-yard Matthew Shipley field goal with 9:24 left in the first quarter. After Colorado State evened the score on former UH kicker Michael Boyle’s 39-yard field goal with 12:41 left in the second quarter, the Rainbow Warriors scored the first touchdown of the game on Brayden Schager’s 1-yard pass to Caleb Phillips on the ensuing drive in which Schager went 6-for-6 from the air. A 23-yard field goal by Shipley as the second quarter clock expired gave UH a 13-3 lead at halftime.

A 1-yard Avery Morrow touchdown cut the Hawaii lead to 13-10 with 9:23 remaining in the third quarter. His second score of the day with 1:28 remaining gave the Rams a 17-13 lead with 1:28 left in the fourth quarter.

Despite gaining just 38 yards in the second half, the Rainbow Warriors had one final chance to win the game, but the effort was thwarted when Ayden Hector intercepted Brayden Schager at the Colorado State 45 with 39 seconds remaining.

Schager finished 18-for-29 with 162 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Morrow’s 154 rushing yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns were all game highs.

Defensively, linebacker Logan Taylor had a game-high 16 tackles for UH, including one for a loss. Additionally, Peter Manuma, who lost his mother to breast cancer earlier this month, accounted for 10 tackles of his own.

Up next for the Rainbow Warriors is a home game against Wyoming in a battle for the Paniolo Trophy on Oct. 29 at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.