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The University of Hawaii knocks down Duquesne, 42-21

  • Jamm Aquino / jaquino@staradvertiser.com

    Hawaii wide receiver John Ursua (5) catches a pass for a touchdown ahead of Leandro, Duquesne Debrito's defensive (7) during the first half of a college football game today at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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It was more difficult than it was supposed to be, but easy enough in the end as the football team at the University of Hawaii secured a 42-21 victory not conference tonight over Duquesne.

An Aloha Stadium crowd of 23,800 fans was a little nervous after the Warriors made a series of errors that gave the Dukes a 14-0 lead in the middle of the first quarter. But UH racked up 35 unanswered points to raise his overall record to 4-1 by entering next week in the Mountain West Conference game. Duquesne fell to 3-2.

Hawaiian quarterback Cole McDonald threw five touchdown passes to four different receivers to lead the UH attack. He completed 24 of 40 passes for 273 yards. He also threw his first interception of the season against 20 touchdown passes. Runner Dayton Furuta added 114 rushing yards on 12 carries. Cedric Byrd had seven catches for 55 yards and a score to complete the UH attack.

Going up 21-14 after a wild first half full of big plays, turnovers and enough penalties to match a Kahuku game, the Warriors settled firmly in the third quarter. After forcing a triple with the opening half of Duquesne, Hawaii needed only five plays to increase the margin to 28-14.

>> Follow the move played from the game in our Game Day Blog.

The last 2 yards of the 47-yard drive were traversed by Fred Holly, as he took it easily on the third chance. Ryan Meskell went through his fourth PAT to give UH a two touchdown advantage with 10:32 left in the fourth. Those were the only points of a much more domesticated period.

Hawaii saved the game in the fourth quarter with a 1-yard touchdown pass from McDonald to Dakota Torres to complete a series of 11 plays and 88 yards that killed the Dukes. Meskell added the PAT to extend the Warriors advantage to 35-14 with 7:48 left.

A 69-yard return by the Dukes on the ensuing kickoff put them in UH ​​territory with the possibility of scoring for the first time since the middle of the first quarter. The Dukes faced a first goal from 9 near the mark of seven minutes, needing a touchdown to make things a little more respectable. And that's what they got, since Dukes quarterback Daniel Parr fired a 10-yard touchdown pass to Kellon Taylor. Mitch Maczura hit the PAT to cut the margin to 35-21 with 6:11 left.

Hawaii scored once more in an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown game. The final snap was a 7-yard touchdown pass from McDonald to John Ursua. Meskell went through the extra point to put 42-21 with 2:13 remaining in the game.

>> See the photos of the game in our photo gallery.

Hawaii made a series of errors at the start of the game that led to Duquesne jumping to a 14-0 lead midway through the opening period. Parr threw a pair of touchdown passes quickly. The first was a 6-yard run for Nehari Crawford and the second was a 20-yard attack for Aidan Cain. Maczura hit both PATs to give the Dukes a 14-point lead with 7:32 left in the first.

Along the way, McDonald launched his first interception of his career, the Warriors lost a fumble and then misplayed a kickoff that led to the second score. But somehow, UH finally found his place and attacked quickly with a 25-yard touchdown pass from McDonald to Ursua and followed with a 20-yard touchdown throw to JoJo Ward in a fourth-down game. Meskell added both PATs as UH tied even at 14-14 with 11:58 left in the second period.

The Warriors took their first lead of the game on a 2-yard touchdown pass from McDonald to Byrd, Meskell hitting through the PAT to make it 21-14 UH with 5:20 until halftime. The 11-play, 96-yard drive was aided by two Duquesne pass interference calls, as the undisciplined dukes scored five times for 70 yards in the first half alone.

After forcing a triple and deep in the end of the Duke field, UH took over in 47 of the visitors with 3:04 to play in the wild first half. That was a long time for the Warriors to put some points on the board. And that's exactly what they tried to do, but they failed when a fourth-chance pass to a very open Ursua was too high since half finished with UH giving up the safe field goal to try to extend the lead to 14.

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