VIDEO: Fourth-quarter timeline of Hawaii football’s 41-38 loss to Fresno State

By Brian McInnis on November 3, 2019 | Court Sense, Featured, Football, Video
A magical ending was not to be for Hawaii and quarterback Chevan Cordeiro this time. / Photo by Jamm Aquino, Star-Advertiser

Fair warning: This one might be tough to re-live, Hawaii football fans.

Nevertheless, Warrior World’s mission is to document both the successes and shortcomings of University of Hawaii sports, and Saturday night’s 41-38 loss to Fresno State at Aloha Stadium was, unfortunately for the Rainbow Warriors, one of the latter.

It was a highly dramatic fourth quarter, with the Bulldogs in the process of pulling away for a road victory before Chevan Cordeiro appeared poised to rouse the Warriors to an improbable comeback.

It was not to be, though, courtesy of Fresno State kicker Cesar Silva. UH dropped to 5-4 overall and 2-3 in Mountain West play, while the Bulldogs (4-4, 2-2) kept their West Division title hopes alive.

Without further ado, the video timeline of the fourth quarter. It was 31-24 Fresno at the start of the fourth; the Bulldogs had scored 17 unanswered to that point.

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Cole McDonald goes deep for one of many times on the night, and this one appears to be catchable — but JoJo Ward can’t come down with it. McDonald would finish 21-for-42 with one touchdown and one interception. The interception came right after this play, on a tipped ball that freshman nickelback Evan Williams came down with.

The Bulldogs keep their momentum rolling and appear well on their way to a sixth straight win at Aloha Stadium, thanks to this Jorge Reyna 26-yard pass to 6-foot-5 tight end Jared Rice.

On Hawaii’s next drive, McDonald completes a couple of passes, including a 44-yarder to Cedric Byrd to get to the Fresno 30. But after missing a couple of targets, he’s pulled in favor of the redshirt freshman Cordeiro, who has a history of rallying the Rainbow Warriors in fourth quarters.

After that nice pickup with his legs, Cordeiro looks across the middle, and appears to have a pass taken by the Bulldogs, at first blush. The officials call it an interception but, upon review, they get it right and it’s called an incompletion.

It’s apparently too early for Cordeiro Time to take hold with under seven minutes left. UH turns it over on downs on fourth-and-goal from the 6, getting only 3 on this completion to Byrd.

The Hawaii defense, which gave up 514 yards of offense, holds firm this time, giving UH a chance. The Bulldogs punt it away with four minutes left, but on Byrd’s 11-yard return to the Fresno 48, Justice Augafa is called for unsportsmanlike conduct. It knocks the return 15 yards back to the UH 37. That was one of several potentially costly penalties on the evening for UH — it finished with 13 for 135 yards.

Cordeiro picks up a first down on third-and-5 with a 5-yard keeper. Then, after a miss to Ward, Cordeiro heaves it deep to 6-foot-5 freshman Nick Mardner for 50 yards up to the Fresno 3. That set up Miles Reed’s 3-yard score. Reed, who was effective in the first half when UH built a 24-14 lead, finished with 75 yards on 14 carries.

UH then recovered an onside kick (sorry, no video) at the Fresno 49 when the Bulldogs couldn’t field it cleanly.

Disaster nearly strikes — one of several times in this game — when Fred Holly III appears to fumble as he hits the ground after an 11-yard pickup. The officials rule him down first, but then upon review say it was a fumble and Fresno has it. Bulldogs begin to celebrate. But then the official speaks again and says it was upheld in UH’s favor. It was that kind of night.

The Warriors get the benefit of another call moments later, when roughing the passer is called on Fresno. Cordeiro does the rest — at this point, it’s officially Cordeiro time — and it’s a tie game.

But the Bulldogs have more than a minute to work with. The quarterback, Reyna, starts the drive by hurting UH with his legs for a pickup of 17. He’d soon do that again for 11 more. Before you knew it, FSU was on borderline field-goal territory. It appeared the UH defense might force Fresno into a 50-yarder, or thereabouts.

Then came a critical 13-yard pickup by running back Ronnie Rivers (19 carries, 103 yards, 2 TDs) up to the 20. That meant, after a Fresno timeout, that Silva was looking at only a 37-yarder.

High drama. But Reyna, a junior college transfer nicknamed “9-Iron”, was money, to the disappointment of all but a smattering of Bulldogs fans in attendance. Ballgame, ladies and gents.

COMMENTS

  1. Inconsistent UH November 3, 2019 7:50 am

    What a disappointing overall performance, especially with the 13 penalties for 135 yards, dropped passes, and pathetic defense ! Another Jekyll and Hyde performance and this one was UH had in the bag… this was Hawaii’s best chance at winning the West division… now that’s out the window ! I’m tired of paying to watch a pathetic performance like that.. against the ghetto Fresno State Bulldogs too.. this is going to leave a bitter taste in my mouth for a very long time !!!!!

  2. H-Man November 3, 2019 11:18 am

    From the LA Times after the Trojans got whipped by the visiting Ducks 56-24, “These Trojans may still fight on, but they don’t fight smart, they don’t fight with discipline, they don’t fight with focus…” Reminds me of Warriors’ game last night.

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