Colleges
Hawaii caps season with loss to Louisiana Tech


ScoringLive staff
December 22, 2018, 11:08pm

  

Sat, Dec 22, 2018 @ Aloha Stadium [ 5:30 pm ]

Louisana Tech

31

Hawaii

14

Final 1 2 3 4 T
Louisana Tech 3 0 21 731
Hawaii 0 7 0 714
Cole McDonald 85 yd 1 TD
J'Mar Smith 285 yd 1 TD
Fred Holly III 57 yd
Israel Tucker 44 yd 1 TD
Jason-Matthew Sharsh 67 yd 1 TD
Teddy Veal 107 yd



HALAWA — Cole McDonald and Chevan Cordeiro each threw a touchdown pass, but it wasn't enough as Hawaii fell to Louisiana Tech, 31-14, in the SoFi Hawaii Bowl Saturday night.

A crowd of 27,837 fans at Aloha Stadium saw the Bulldogs (8-5) come back from a 7-3 halftime deficit to win their program-record fifth bowl game in as many seasons.

Louisiana Tech, which tied for second place in Conference USA's West Division, got three interceptions and a Hawaii Bowl-record nine sacks from its defense. Cornerback Amik Robertson had two interceptions, Willie Baker notched five tackles for loss, including four sacks, and fellow defensive end Jaylon Ferguson added 2.5 sacks to complete his career as the NCAA's career sack leader, overtaking Arizona State's Terrell Suggs.

The Bulldogs finished with 453 yards of total offense, including 285 passing from J'Mar Smith, while holding the Rainbow Warriors (8-6) to 226 yards of total offense.

Smith threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Jaqwis Dancy that was part of a 21-point Louisiana Tech third quarter. He also ran for another score in the win. Teddy Veal recorded game-highs of eight receptions for 107 yards.

After a 24-yard Bailey Hale field goal got the Bulldogs on the board, Hawaii took its only lead on Cordeiro's 24-yard TD pass to Jason-Matthew Sharsh with 8:20 left in the first half.

Sharsh started in place of the injured John Ursua, who did not play due to an apparent hamstring injury. Ursua is the nation's leader in receiving touchdowns with 16 this season.

The only other points for the Rainbow Warriors came on a 7-yard TD pass from McDonald to Marcus Armstrong-Brown with 6:14 remaining in the game. Armstrong-Brown finished with seven catches for 59 yards and Sharsh added five grabs for 67 yards.

Solomon Matautia recorded a game-high 8 1/2 tackles in the loss.

Hawaii committed 12 penalties for 140 yards and was just 2 of 14 on third-down conversions. The nine sacks it allowed was the most in a game in program history.

Despite the loss, the Rainbow Warriors finished with their first winning season since 2010.

They open the 2019 season at home against Arizona on Aug. 24.




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