Box Score

HONOLULU -- The University of Hawai'ì Warrior football team lost a heartbreaker, 27-24, to Rice in a Western Athletic Conference game Saturday night. A crowd of 35,443 waited out rain showers to watch the Warriors play their first game of the season at Aloha Stadium.

Hawai'i (1-2, 0-2 WAC) struck first in the second quarter when quarterback Timmy Chang hit wideout Ashley Lelie for a six-yard touchdown. Almost five minutes later, Hawai'ì running back Mike Bass scored on a three-yard run, the first of his career, to put the Warriors up 14-0.

The real story happened on defense as the Warriors held the Owls to 212 rushing yards, more than 130 yards below their average. Hawai'ì tallied eight tackles-for-loss and sacked the Owl quarterbacks four times.

Meanwhile, Rice (3-1, 1-0 WAC) struck back with 14 unanswered points in the third quarter to get within three points, 24-21, going into the final quarter. One touchdown came on a 74-yard interception return by Rice's Dan Dawson.

Rice's backup quarterback Greg Henderson, who entered the game for starter Kyle Herm early in the first quarter, left the game with cramps in the fourth quarter and was replaced by freshman Joe Moore. Moore helped revive the Owls running game enough to allow Brandon Skeen to kick a 31-yard field goal to tie the game at 24.

Warrior quarterback Timmy Chang left the game in the fourth with a sprained wrist and Jared Flint saw his first legitimate action of Division I-A football. The Warriors were unable to move the ball into scoring territory and Rice drove to the Hawai'ì 9-yard line with Henderson back in the game to allow Skeen to kick the winning field goal with 2:26 left to play.

Chang finished with 27 completions for 362 yards and two touchdowns. Lelie finished with a career-high 11 catches for 181 yards and two touchdowns. Chris Brown led the Warriors with a career-high 12.5 tackles. Next week the Warriors travel to Dallas, Texas, to meet SMU in a WAC game on Oct. 6 at Ford Stadium.