LARAMIE, Wyo.  – The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warrior football team got into an early hole and couldn't quite recover in a 31-7 loss Friday night at War Memorial Stadium. The Rainbow Warriors fell to 1-1 on the year.
 
Wyoming (1-1) regained possession of the Paniolo Trophy with the win, its eighth in the last 10 games against Hawai'i. The Cowboys also snapped UH's four-game conference win streak dating back to last season
 
A week after racking up more than 500 yards of offense in its season opener at Fresno State, the Rainbow Warriors faced a stiffer test in the Cowboys. UH managed just 233 yards with its lowest passing total (110) in five years.
 
Meanwhile the Cowboys had their run game going, powered by the Mountain West's top rusher in Xazavian Valladay. Valladay carried the ball 32 times for 163 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Cowboys to their first win of the season. Trey Smith added 89 yards and two touchdowns. Wyoming finished with 281 total yards rushing.
 
For the second straight game, the Rainbow Warriors got off to a rough start. The Cowboys marched down the field on it opening drive, capped by a Valladay 18-yard scoring run. UH then fumbled the ball on it opening offensive possession and Wyoming parlayed that into a 30-yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead barely five minutes into the game.

While UH's defense held up, the offense struggled and had just 52 yards of total offense with a few minutes left in the first half. But the Warrior offense broke through with an 80-yard drive – highlighted by a 47-yard bomb to Zion Bowens – and got a three-yard touchdown from Dae Dae Hunter to make it a 10-7 game at the half.
 
UH was looking to take that momentum into the second half. But the Warriors could never get it going and mustered just 101 yards after the break. UH was still in the game in the fourth quarter, down just 17-7. But the turning point came when Wyoming's Charles Hicks picked off Chevan Cordeiro and returned the interception 45 yards. Four plays later, Valladay scored his second touchdown of the game to give the Cowboys a 24-7 lead with 8:19 left in the game.
 
Cordeiro, who was sacked five times,  finished 11-of-26 for 110 yards. It marked the first time the redshirt sophomore lost as a UH starter (5-1).
 
Darius Muasau led UH with a career-high 12 tackles, while Donovan Dalton added a career-high nine in his first start as a Rainbow Warrior. Cortez Davis had six tackles, a sack, and two forced fumbles.
 
The Rainbow Warriors now return to the islands to play its first home game of the season versus New Mexico on Saturday, Nov. 7. Kickoff is 6:00 p.m. at Aloha Stadium.