{"id":336823,"date":"2025-10-12T12:39:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T12:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/336823\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T12:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T12:39:12","slug":"warriors-roll-past-utah-state-in-44-26-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/336823\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors roll past Utah State in 44-26 thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"

On his 21st birthday, Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado fulfilled a wish with a 44-26 victory over Utah State<\/a> at the Ching Complex.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust wanted to get a win, and it came true,\u201d said Alejado, whose Rainbow Warriors improved to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain West. With five regular-season games remaining, the Warriors need another victory to become bowl eligible for the first time in Timmy Chang\u2019s four seasons as UH head coach.<\/p>\n

A crowd of 11,900 saw the Warriors end an eight-game losing streak to the Aggies in what is likely the last meeting between the teams for the foreseeable future. The Aggies are leaving the Mountain West for the rebuilding Pac-12 in July.<\/p>\n

The \u201cTokyo Toe\u201d \u2014 Japan-reared Kansei Matsuzawa \u2014 kicked three field goals, Alejado threw three scoring passes and dashed 15 yards for another, and the Warriors\u2019 defense wore down the Aggies\u2019 multi-look attack.<\/p>\n

Matsuzawa\u2019s three field goals extended his streak to 19 in a row to start this season. Dating to last season, Matsuzawa has connected on 20 in a row, tying former Rainbow Jason Elam\u2019s record streak in 1992.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never think about the numbers,\u201d Matsuzawa said. \u201cI just enjoy where I am right now. The results and the numbers are coming. We always talk about the process over the results. It\u2019s about the process, and the numbers follow. I\u2019m so happy. But we still have five games left. I want to win more games. Our team goal is to win the Mountain West championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For the third time in six career starts, second-year freshman Alejado surpassed 400 passing yards. Alejado was 34-for-54 for 413 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s special,\u201d Chang said of Alejado. \u201cWe want him to feel loved. After Fresno (in which Alejado was intercepted three times) he continues to fight the fight. \u201c<\/p>\n

For the first time since 2023, UH had two receivers with 100-plus yards in the same game\u2014 Jackson Harris\u2019 117 yards and Pofele Ashlock\u2019s 113 yards with three touchdowns. Both were helped by the return of slotback Nick Cenacle, who missed four starts while recovering from an MCL injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt good to be back with the guys,\u201d Cenacle said. \u201cThis offense is about setting up other guys. If you\u2019re not there, you can help somebody else make a play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris said: \u201cIt was complementary football. We all executed very well. The defense did their part. And when (the offense) is all healthy, that\u2019s what we can do out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Aggies, who trailed 24-20 at the intermission, went ahead on a 32-yard pass from Bryson Barnes to tight end Broc Lane. UH defensive end Lester Lagafuaina blocked Tanner Rinker\u2019s point-after kick. Barnes had re-entered after missing the final two series of the first half after being sacked. Barnes went into the examination tent, then returned to the sideline but did not take a snap the rest of the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Matsuzawa drilled a 46-yard field goal to help the Warriors regain the lead for good at 27-26 with 3:20 left in the third quarter. <\/p>\n

Matsuzawa added another field goal. Alejado scored on a 15-yard keeper and Landon Sims iced it with a 4-yard scoring run with 3:48 to play. Earlier, Sims was chased down at the end of a 43-yard run.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a gas-tank issue,\u201d Sims said, smiling. \u201cPlaying 12 plays of special teams doesn\u2019t help. But I\u2019ll do it any day of the week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Middle linebacker Jamih Otis denied the Aggies\u2019 comeback hopes. Otis forced a fumble and made an interception in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll week the coaches prepared us to do well,\u201d Otis said of countering the Aggies\u2019 schemes, which included triple options, run-pass options, five-receiver sets, quarterback draws and three-back formations. \u201cIt was dialing in. A lot of film studies. A lot of walk-throughs. The biggest thing was the relationship with my brothers on the field. I know they\u2019re going to do theirs 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Warriors emptied the playbook in this final matchup. They were unsuccessful on a fake punt (Billy Gowers was short of the first-down marker), an onside kick, and one of two fourth-down attempts.<\/p>\n

In the final scheduled matchup between the teams, there were several momentum shifts. The first half featured four lead changes, three ties and a quarterback switch.<\/p>\n

Barnes, who exited the concussion protocol this past week, was 5-for-11 for 45 yards before suffering an apparent injury in the second quarter. Jacob Conover took over in the Aggies\u2019 final two drives of the first half.<\/p>\n

Conover led the Aggies on a drive that resulted in Rinker\u2019s 40-yard field goal for a 20-17 lead with 1:05 to play in the first half.<\/p>\n

But UH\u2019s Alejado helped the Warriors answer, steering a six-play drive that covered 75 yards. The final 31 yards came on Alejado\u2019s scoring pass to slotback Ashlock with 24 seconds left in the half. It was Ashlock\u2019s third touchdown reception of the half.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Ashlock caught a 7-yard scoring pass to tie it at 17-all.<\/p>\n

Two harmful penalties against UH \u2014 defensive end Jackie Johnson\u2019s targeting and an illegal substitution \u2014 set up Utah State running back Miles Davis\u2019 touchdown that tied it at 10. After the Aggies were stopped three times inside the 5, they decided to attempt a fourth-down play from the 1. Davis sprinted around the right end, out-racing two Warriors for the touchdown.<\/p>\n

The teams then traded trick plays, with only the Aggies finding success. UH punter Billy Gowers\u2019 fake-punt sprint was well short of the first-down marker.<\/p>\n

The Aggies took over at the UH 30. Barnes lateraled to wideout Anthony Garcia on the left side. Garcia then threw to a wide-open Javen Jacobs at the 15. Jacobs sprinted the rest of the way to give the Aggies a 17-10 lead.<\/p>\n

Both teams\u2019 kickers continued streaks to open the scoring.<\/p>\n

Hawaii\u2019s Matsuzawa converted from 31 yards to give the Warriors a 3-0 lead. It was Matsuzawa\u2019s league-record 17th successful field goal in a row to open the season.<\/p>\n

But the Aggies answered with a rare field goal. In the season opener, Rinker connected on two field goals in a victory over UTEP. But the Aggies did not attempt another kick the next four games. On their second possesson on Saturday, they drove to the UH 2. From there, Rinker connected from 20 yards to tie it with 4:31 in the first quarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On his 21st birthday, Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado fulfilled a wish with a 44-26 victory over Utah State…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,8106,479,164,4025,4024,6,255],"class_list":{"0":"post-336823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-editors","10":"tag-golden-state","11":"tag-golden-state-warriors","12":"tag-goldenstate","13":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-warriors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115361242570374907","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}