Hawaii squeezes past Oregon State


HALAWA — Ryan Meskell's 28-yard field goal with two minutes and 17 seconds left lifted Hawaii to a 31-28 win over Oregon State Saturday night.

The Rainbow Warriors improved to 2-0 with their second win over an opponent from the Pac-12 conference.

JoJo Ward led the Hawaii offense with 10 receptions for 189 yards. He was on the receiving end of all four of Cole McDonald's touchdown passes. The pair hooked up for scoring strikes of 29 and 35 yards in the first half and 5 and 29 yards after the break.

McDonald finished with 421 yards through the air on 30-of-52 passing and one interception.

Hawaii never led in the game until the go-ahead field goal by Meskell, who missed his first three tries of the night from 47, 27 and 48 yards. All three misses were wide left.

Jermar Jefferson rushed for a 183 yards on 31 carries, including a 4-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. Artavis Pierce scored on runs of 37 and 25 yards and finished with 79 yards on seven carries.

Isaiah Hodgins caught seven passes for 96 yards and a 13-yard touchdown from Jake Luton that gave the Beavers a 21-7 lead with 12:42 left in the second quarter.

Oregon State led at halftime, 28-21.

The Rainbow Warriors were just 2 of 12 on third downs, but 3 of 3 on fourth downs.

It marked Hawaii's first win over the Beavers since the 1999 Oahu Bowl, when current-Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith was the starting quarter.

The Beavers lead the all-time series against Hawaii, 7-4.

Hawaii will face its third straight Pac-12 opponent when it visits No. 14 Washington next Saturday.