HONOLULU — A season full of lows reached a new one Saturday night.
HONOLULU — A season full of lows reached a new one Saturday night.
Jacobi Owens rushed for 137 yards and two touchdowns to help Air Force rout Hawaii 58-7 at Aloha Stadium.
It was the worst home loss in school history and the sixth straight defeat for the Rainbow Warriors, who are assured a fifth consecutive losing season. They are now 10-36 under fourth-year coach Norm Chow, including a 4-25 mark in conference.
“We needed to have been able to stop their run and we just didn’t do that,” Chow said. “They’re a very good football team and they see what your game plan is and they try to take advantage of it. We had the ball for just 10 plays in the second half and when they got ahead that hurt us.”
The Falcons (5-3, 4-1 Mountain West) amassed 576 yards of total offense, including a season-high 496 rushing, en route to their first road win of the year.
It was the second straight week that Air Force had two ball carriers go over 100 yards in a game. Timothy McVey ran for 113 yards and two late touchdowns. Benton Washington, Karson Roberts and Aubrey Duty-Tyson each recorded a rushing score and Luke Strebel made field goals of 40, 36 and 44 yards.
The Falcons ran 92 total offensive plays, which bested its season-high mark of 90 in last week’s win over Fresno State.
The lone score for the Rainbow Warriors (2-7, 0-5) came on Keelan Ewaliko’s 98-yard kickoff return late in the game.
Hawaii quarterback Max Wittek was intercepted twice before being relieved in the fourth quarter by Ikaika Woolsey, who was 5 of 9.
“We thought about it at halftime,” Chow said. “Ikaika moves around with his feet pretty good but we knew we needed to throw to get back in the game. When we decided to put him in Keelan (Ewaliko) had that big run back so he didn’t get to play as much as we wanted him to.”
Air Force entered the game averaging 333 rushing yards, which ranked third-best in the country, while Hawaii was 115th in rush defense, surrendering 229 yards per contest.
Owens’ first rushing score capped a 15-play, 90-yard drive that included three third-down conversions.
“Of course it did,” Chow said on getting down early affecting the game plan, “we wanted to get into a routine like them. We got a first down the first play of the game but then they went 90 yards and sure it takes you out of your plan.”
The Falcons were 8 for 8 on red zone scoring opportunities and dominated possession, hanging on to the ball for 45:06.
The Rainbow Warriors were 1 of 10 on third downs with 178 yards of total offense.
Hawaii’s Jerrol Garcia-Williams led all players with 17 tackles, including 10 solo stops.
Roland Ladipo led Air Force with a forced fumble that led to Roberts’ 1-yard touchdown run and an interception that set up Strebel’s second field goal.
Weston Steelhammer’s interception led to another Strebel field goal. He also recovered a fumble in the first half.
The Falcons, who led at halftime 34-0, improved to 47-11 when leading at the half and 58-8 when leading after three quarters under ninth-year coach Troy Calhoun.
With the win, Air Force held on to the General Laurence S. Kuter Trophy, which dates back to 1980 and is named after the first head of the Pacific Air Forces Command, based out of Honolulu. Air Force leads the all-time series against Hawaii, 13-6-1. It was the first time the teams met since 2012, when the Falcons beat the Rainbow Warriors 21-7 in Fort Collins, Colo.
It was the largest margin of victory for either team in the series since the first meeting in 1966, which Air Force won 54-0.
Air Force 14 20 3 21—58
Hawaii 0 0 0 7— 7
First Quarter
AFA—Owens 2 run (Strebel kick), 6:50.
AFA—Owens 11 run (Strebel kick), 3:39.
Second Quarter
AFA—Roberts 1 run (Strebel kick), 9:07.
AFA—FG Strebel 40, 6:56.
AFA—B.Washington 1 run (Strebel kick), 1:03.
AFA—FG Strebel 36, :00.
Third Quarter
AFA—FG Strebel 44, 4:51.
Fourth Quarter
AFA—Duty-Tyson 1 run (Philichi kick), 11:53.
AFA—McVey 5 run (Philichi kick), 6:10.
Haw—Ewaliko 98 kickoff return (Sanchez kick), 5:56.
AFA—McVey 39 run (Philichi kick), 5:43.
A—22,430.
AFA Haw
First downs 32 7
Rushes-yards 83-496 12-(-2)
Passing 80 180
Comp-Att-Int 3-9-0 15-35-2
Return Yards 18 0
Punts-Avg. 4-37.3 7-52.0
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards 3-30 9-86
Time of Possession 45:06 14:54
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Air Force, Owens 30-137, McVey 7-113, B.Washington 13-69,
Roberts 10-65, Driskell 9-64, Duty-Tyson 8-32, Stafford 5-14, Brown 1-2.
Hawaii, Davis 3-8, Harris 3-4, Woolsey 4-(minus 4),
Wittek 2-(minus 10).
PASSING—Air Force, Roberts 3-9-0-80. Hawaii, Wittek 10-26-2-123,
Woolsey 5-9-0-57.
RECEIVING—Air Force, Brown 1-61, Driskell 1-12, Robinette 1-7.
Hawaii, Pedroza 4-78, Bernard 3-30, Stubblefield 3-17, Kemp 2-20,
Torres 1-15, Collie 1-13, Harris 1-7.