Hawaii football opens season with win over Delaware State

The University of Hawaii seized control late to eke out a 35-14 season-opening win over Delaware State at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.

In a battle of teams representing the first state and 50th, Hawaii got its first season-opening win since 2020 with a 21-0 run to end the game.

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Hawaii got the scoring started with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Schager to Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala with 9:35 left in the first quarter.

The Rainbow Warriors then expanded their lead to 14-0 with 10 seconds left in the third quarter on a 44-yard punt return by Tylan Hines, the first Rainbow Warrior to score a touchdown on a punt return since Scott Harding’s 69-yarder against UNLV in 2012. But that would be all the scoring Hawaii did in an anemic first half in which Schager completed 8 of his 20 passes for 72 yards, albeit with a handful of drops.

Delaware State cut the UH lead to 14-7 at halftime on quarterback Marqui Adams’ 10-yard touchdown run with 12 seconds left in the first half.

The Hornets tied the game at 14 on their first drive of the second half after a 42-yard pass from Adams to a wide open Ryan Lee was followed by a 6-yard rush by Jaden Sutton, stunning a crowd of 10,279.

Schager put Hawaii back in front with a 15-yard keeper with 7:42 left in the third quarter. Schager later hit a wide-open Dekel Crowdus for a 29-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter and punched it in from a yard out with 3:44 remaining to seal the game.

Schager completed 17 of 34 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 38 yards and 10 carries, scoring multiple rushing touchdowns for the first time in his career.

For Delaware State, Adams completed 17 of his 28 passes for 156 yards while carrying the ball 15 times for 44 yards and a touchdown.

DSU’s Nathan Wilson punted 11 times for a total of 445 yards, while UH’s Lucas Borrow totaled 352 yards on eight punts.

Defensively, UH sophomore linebacker Jamih Otis had a game-high 11 tackles (eight solo) with 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack and a quarterback hurry.

Next up for Hawaii is a home game against UCLA, set for 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 1. The Bruins, now members of the Big 10 Conference, did not play in Week 0.