Nothing like going to Hawaii to recharge the batteries. Just ask the Aztecs.
San Diego State, on the road Saturday night, scored a much-needed victory, beating the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 41-34.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak and left the Aztecs at 3-4, as they notched their first Mountain West win on the season to improve to 1-2 in the conference.
It was a game that featured a little bit of everything. Little-used running back Lucky Sutton scored two touchdowns, the Aztec defense forced four turnovers and wide receiver Mekhi Shaw led his team with 126 yards and one touchdown.
“We really needed to get some turnovers. It helped our offense. Gave our offense confidence,” head coach Brady Hoke told San Diego Sports 760.
Added Shaw: “The emphasis for us has been one game at a time. All our focus on and attention has been on that one game right in front of us.”
The Aztecs scored early thanks to an aggressive defensive effort in Hawaii’s first series. The defense forced a three and out when they twice tipped the ball, nearly intercepting the passes, and then blocked the punt.
The block gave the Aztecs the ball on Hawaii’s 13-yard line and resulted in a 22-yard field goal from Jack Browning.
The defense continued its strong play, holding the Rainbow Warriors to no first downs until there were three minutes left in the first quarter. The Aztecs took advantage of good field position to score again, this time on a 1-yard run by the freshman Sutton for his first touchdown of the season, making it 10-0 Aztecs.
The defense struck again early in the second quarter when safety Deshawn McCuin intercepted a pass along the right sideline and took it 70 yards for a touchdown, making 17-0 Aztecs. McCuin transferred to San Diego State from TCU and it was just his second career interception.
He would leave the game in the fourth quarter after a tackle, but walked off the field after being down for a few minutes.
Hawaii bounced back on their next possession, mounting a 10-play, 91-yard drive that resulted in a 17-yard touchdown pass to cut SDSU’s lead to 17-7.
After forcing a three and out, it looked like momentum was turning for Hawaii, but the Rainbow Warriors muffed a punt, turning it over to the Aztecs. The Aztecs, however, failed to capitalize when Browning missed a 50-yard field goal wide left.
That seemed to fire up Hawaii. In the next series, quarterback Brayden Schager completed a 62-yard pass to get them in the red zone and then threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-14 Aztecs with a little over a minute left in the half. SDSU held the lead going into halftime.
The start of the second half saw the Aztecs unable to do anything on their first possession. But Hawaii, led by a nice mix of running and passing, went on a 67-yard drive that culminated in a field goal, tying the game 17-17.
The Aztecs would go on a long drive and take the lead back on a 24-yard field goal by Browning, making it 20-17 for the visitors with less than a minute to go in the third quarter. But Hawaii answered quickly, scoring in their next possession thanks to a 52-yard pass – a touchdown that put them out in front 24-20.
Yet the Aztec offense, which had been sputtering, came to life when Jalen Mayden hurled a 69-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Shaw. The back-and-forth game switched back to SDSU, with them leading 27-24.
On the next possession, the defense recovered a fumble, giving the Aztecs the ball at the Hawaii 24-yard line. A few plays later, the Aztecs scored again, this time on a two-yard touchdown run by Sutton. That made it 34-24 Aztecs.
The two teams kept slugging it out. Hawaii took only three plays to score another touchdown, with the drive highlighted by a 65-yard pass by Schager, who would finish with 427 passing yards. That shrunk the Aztecs’ lead to just three points at 34-31.
The Aztecs, though, caught a break when Hawaii fumbled the ball with just over five minutes left in the game. That allowed the Aztecs to run down the clock and eventually score on a 1-yard touchdown run by Jaylon Armstead to push their lead to 41-31 with 2:11 to go.
Hawaii would get the ball back and kick a field goal to cut the lead to 41-34, but failed on an on-side kick, giving the Aztecs control with 59 seconds left.
