Hawaii holds on to beat Wyoming 17-13

Oct 7, 2019, 03:25 pm

HONOLULU -- Freshman Chevan Cordeiro threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to JoJo Ward with 1:26 to play to Hawaii beat Wyoming 17-13 on Saturday night and move to 3-0 in Mountain West Conference play for the first time in program history.

Cordeiro, making his first career start in place of the injured Cole McDonald, was 19-of-29 passing for 148 yards and two touchdowns. McDonald entered the weekend as the nation's leader in passing yards (2,100) and passing touchdowns (24).

Wyoming's Cooper Rothe made a 23-yard field goal to give the Cowboys (2-4, 0-2) a 13-10 lead with 5:31 to play, but Cordeiro led the Rainbow Warriors on a 10-play, 68-yard drive capped by Ward's TD. Wyoming drove deep into Hawaii (6-1) territory before a sack by Zeno Choi and a false start stalled the drive.

Rothe made a 40-yard field goal to open the scoring midway through the first quarter and Hawaii's Ryan Meskell hit a 39-yarder to tie it with 8:25 left in the first half.

Defensive end Carl Granderson intercepted a pass from Cordeiro and returned it 61 yards for a score to give Wyoming a 10-3 lead midway through the third quarter, but Cordeiro hit Cedric Byrd for a 5-yard touchdown that made it 10-10 going into the fourth.