LARAMIE – Wyoming opened Mountain West play with a rousing 27-10 victory over Hawai'i in front of a Homecoming crowd of 20,999 at War Memorial Stadium.
The Cowboys (2-2 overall, 1-0 MW) made a goal-line stand in the third quarter and
Markell Holman finished off an 11-play, 99-yard drive with an 18-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
"We were going to empty the tank for 60 minutes. Players, coaches, everything to it," UW head coach
Jay Sawvel said. "You should see the same energy every single week the rest of the way through."
Holman finished with 87 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Samuel "Tote" Harris provided the knockout punch with 94 yards and an 18-yard touchdown with 1:46 remaining to put the win on ice.
UW quarterback
Tyler Hughes was an efficient 17-for-23 passing for 204 yards with completions to nine different targets.
Deion DeBlanc led the team in receiving with 41 yards.
The Rainbow Warriors (1-3, 0-2) opened the second half with a 16-play, 74-yard drive that bled 9 minutes, 14 seconds off the clock.
Desman Hearns made a touchdown-saving tackle on Mikaele Sitani at the 1-yard line and
Jack Dunkley forced a hurry on Hawai'i quarterback Micah Alejado on fourth-and-goal.
The Warriors forced a punt but were assessed a costly penalty for having two players wearing the No. 8 on their punt return team.
Hughes completed a 26-yard pass to DeBlanc to move the sticks on third-and-15, found
Eric Richardson for a 19-yard completion over the middle and hit
Jake Wilson for a 7-yard completion on third-and-5 during the ensuing drive.
After Holman's scoring scamper, Alejado answered with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Devon Tauaefa to get the visitors within 20-10.
Hawai'i missed a field goal on its next possession and UW put the game out of reach with a 7-play, 63-yard drive capped with Harris' touchdown on third-and-6.
Defensively, safety
Jones Thomas led the Pokes with seven tackles and three pass breakups. Defensive end
Esaia Bogar had 1.5 tackles for loss and defensive tackle
Jayden Williams recorded the first sack of his career.
The Cowboys led 13-3 at the intermission.
Erik Sandvik made field goals of 28 and 23 yards, and Holman had a 1-yard rushing touchdown as UW entered the locker room with a 205-90 edge in total yards.
"There was a completely different feel," Sawvel said of his team's preparation. "It's one game. Tomorrow, we go back to work, and we've got to get this right and go do it again."
UW will hit the road to face undefeated North Dakota State next Saturday at the Fargodome (1:30 p.m., The CW).
