Hawaii RB Elijah Dale hurdles over a Duquesne defender. Leighland Tagawa | SL

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Hawaii RB Elijah Dale hurdles over a Duquesne defender. Leighland Tagawa | SL

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HALAWA — The University of Hawaii football team got back in the win column with a 42-21 homecoming win over Duquesne Saturday night at Hawaiian Financial FCU Field at Aloha Stadium.

It was a rough start against the Division I Football Championship Subdivision Dukes as quarterback Cole McDonald threw his first interception of the season to make it the first time the Rainbow Warriors ended their opening drive without scoring a touchdown. On the next possession, top pass-catcher Cedric Byrd fumbled at Hawaii's own 40 yard line. Six plays later, Dukes QB Daniel Parr hit Nehari Crawford for a six-yard touchdown. 

The miscues continuned on the ensuing kickoff as seemingly no Hawaii players grabbed the ball and Duquesne recovered it at the Hawaii 23 yard line. Parr hit Aidan Cain three plays later on a 20-yard score to give the Dukes a 14-0 lead.

But Hawaii responded and scored 35-unanswered the points until midway through the fourth quarter.

McDonald threw for 273 yards and five scores — two to John Ursua and one each to JoJo Ward, Byrd and Dakota Torres.

The redshirt sophomore QB also added 56 yards on the ground but most of the damage came from Mililani-grad Dayton Furuta, who carried the ball 12 times for 114 yards.

Duquesne senior linebacker Nohea Keahi (Baldwin '15) tallied two tackles with one for a loss early in the first quarter.

Hawaii improved to 4-1 and will return to Mountain West Conference play with a trip to San Jose to play the Spartans at 1 p.m. HST on Saturday.

Rainbow Warriors will return home Oct. 6 against Wyoming.