HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warrior football team concluded its 2017 campaign with a 30-20 loss to BYU Saturday at Aloha Stadium. UH finished the season with a 3-9 mark after dropping nine of its final 10 games of the year.
BYU (4-9) controlled the tempo of the game with a methodical offense. The Cougars racked up 451 total yards of offense, including 285 on the ground. Squally Canada led the way with 113 yards and two touchdowns, while Austin Kafentzis added 98 yards.
The UH offense, meanwhile, could never get into sync. The team just ran 53 total plays and finished with a season-low 28 yards rushing.
Despite that, senior running back
Diocemy Saint Juste set another mark in a record-breaking year. With 39 rushing yards, Saint Juste set a new single-season rushing record with 1,510 yards, breaking the old mark of 1,498 by Travis Sims in 1992. Saint Juste set the mark with a 14-yard gain during UH's final drive of the game.
Opening up the season-ending contest for both teams, BYU wasted little time getting on the scoreboard, taking a 7-0 lead on their opening drive with a 40-yard run by Canada.
UH defense responded in a big way when
Trayvon Henderson sacked Joe Critchlow and popped the ball free.
Solomon Matautia caught the ball mid-air and returned it 42 yards for a UH touchdown.
The Cougars, however, carried a 13-7 lead into halftime and a 20-7 lead into the fourth quarter. Shortly after the UH punt team recovered a BYU fumble, UH cut the deficit to 20-13 on an
Ammon Barker 11-yard reception from
Dru Brown early in the fourth quarter.
But that would be as close as it would get for the Rainbow Warriors, as BYU scored scored the next 10 points to put the game away.
Jahlani Tavai finished with a team-high 13 tackles and a sack. Tavai finished the season with 124 tackles on the year, his second straight season with more than 100 tackles.
A total of 20 seniors made their final appearance on the Aloha Stadium turf and participated in the traditional "Senior Walk" ceremony following the game.
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