Time of possession dooms Hawaii, Black Knights win 28-21

In a game of football, when your opponent has the ball for 41:18, there is a good chance things didn’t end well.

That was the case for Hawaii at West Point. The Rainbow Warriors started off fast again this week, going up 7-0 minutes into the first quarter off of a 12-yard pass to from quarterback Cole McDonald to wide receiver John Ursua. Unlike previous weeks, Army responded with a touchdown drive of their own capped by a 1-yard run by quarterback Kelvin Hopkins Jr.

Tied 7-7 going into the second quarter, Hopkins Jr. scored again from 1-yard out and Army was beginning to force its footballing philosophy on the Warriors by chewing up clock and keeping the vaunted Warrior offense on the sideline.

Hawaii responded by scoring off of a sneaky 1-yard run by John Ursua, who motioned behind the center and took a direct snap into the endzone. The tie score didn’t last long, as a Connor Slomka 48-yard run gave Army a 21-14 lead before the break.

What followed was a frustrating third quarter. Army’s willingness to frequently go for it on 4th down made stopping the triple option offense nearly impossible for a worn out Warrior defense. This resulted in Army having the ball for long periods of time. Army went up 28-14 in the early fourth quarter off a Darnell Woolfolk 3-yard touchdown. With Army eating up the clock, it appeared there was no way back for UH, but an 80-yard touchdown pass to John Ursua got all 7 of those points back immediately.

Army then did what it does, and killed the clock. A questionable spot on a 4th down conversion aided the clock-killing agenda for Army, but UH did get one last stop and offered the offense one last chance to stage a comeback. Cole McDonald marched the team down into goal-to-go territory, but couldn’t covert on 4th-and-goal. Hawaii lost 21-28 and moves to 3-1 on the season.

NEXT UP: Hawaii returns home after its long trip to play FCS foe Duquesne at Aloha Stadium.