HONOLULU – The University of Hawaii Rainbow Warrior football team completed its shortened 2020 campaign with a 38-21 win over UNLV Saturday night at Aloha Stadium. The Rainbow Warriors finished the year with a 4-4 record.
It marked the third straight season UH finished with a .500 or better record. UH also retained possession of the Island Showdown Trophy with its third straight win over the Rebels, who finished the season winless (0-6).
UH scored the first three touchdowns of the game and were never threatened in a game they led from wire-to-wire. The Warriors racked up 530 yards of total offense with 278 of them coming on the ground. Both totals were the second-highest of the season.
Chevan Cordeiro passed for 252 yards and rushed 88 more and two touchdowns in the win. The sophomore set the tone early with a 54-yard scoring run on just the second play from scrimmage.
Miles Reed added 79 yards, his highest total since the season opener, and caught two passes for 29 yards.
Calvin Turner tallied 155 all-purpose yards, all coming in the second half. He rushed six times for 55 yards and one touchdown and caught two passes for 77 yards. His 71-yard catch and run on UH's opening drive of the second half, set up freshman
Koali Nishigaya's first career touchdown. Turner also returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown but it was called back due to a penalty.
Linebacker
Darius Muasau disrupted the Rebels all evening and set a new career-high with 18 tackles, including 2.5 tackles-for-loss and a sack. The 18 tackles were the most by a Rainbow Warrior since Solomon Elimimian's 20 tackles versus Utah State in 2007.
Meanwhile, the Rainbow Warrior defense forced three turnovers on the night to cap a year in which they posted at least one takeaway in seven of eight contests. The defense almost pitched a first half shutout until UNLV's Max Gilliam's 19-yard pass to Kyle Williams with under a minute left spoiled the feat.
Charles Williams rushed for a game-high 148 yards with both of touchdowns coming in the third quarter.
The 2020 season marked head coach
Todd Graham's inaugural season. The victory was the 99
th of his 13-year career.
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