SAN DIEGO — The character and attitude of San Diego State, forged through hard lessons learned during the non-conference, shown through in their first Mountain West game.
Marquez Cooper’s 2-yard rushing touchdown with 7:05 remaining was the winning score as the Aztecs (2-3, 1-0 Mountain West) dug in on defense to close out a 27-24 win over the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium.
“There’s a job to be done, and we’re willing to punch the clock and show up and do the work that’s required to win,” said coach Sean Lewis.
It was Mountain West sack-leader Trey White posting his second straight game with three sacks and four tackles for loss, and Cooper gutting through nagging pains to pound out his third 100-yard game in Scarlet and Black while scoring two touchdowns.
It was kicker Gabriel Plascencia making all three field goal attempts after winning the week in practice, and cornerback Jelani Whitmore snatching his first interception for the only turnover of the game — leading to the game’s opening score.
It was the kind of “consistently good” that showed up in all three phases for the Aztecs.
“You’ve got to come up big every time that happens and we have control over what happens in the end,” White said. “You gotta come down and just make plays.”
Hawaii (2-3, 0-1) took the lead 24-20 with 9:39 to play when quarterback Brayden Schager connected with wide receiver Nick Cenacle for a 23-yard touchdown pass. It was the visitors’ only lead of the game, and was the second straight scoring drive aided by an SDSU personal foul penalty.
Danny O’Neil orchestrated the swift response and ultimate game-winning drive the next possession with the kind of poise well beyond his fourth game as SDSU’s starter since joining the program last spring.
It kicked into gear on the second play, a 48-yard completion down the left sideline to wide receiver Nate Bennett, that the quarterback said he kept his initial focus on the right side of the field to keep the safety occupied.
“We'd been setting it up earlier in the game and we knew that once we were gonna save it for a desperate moment,” O’Neil said.
Bennett finished with a game-high 74 yards receiving on four catches.
Then, facing a third-and-four at the Hawaii 16-yard line, O’Neil swung a pass to wide receiver Jordan Napier for a 14-yard completion to set up the game winning score. It was just one of the six third down conversions by SDSU, who also went three-for-three on fourth down.
“We can call these (plays) in these situations because of the way that we prepared,” Lewis said. “Guys are trained to seize the opportunity because they're ready for the moment and they go out and execute.”
SDSU had four of their five sacks in the final quarter, with Lewis recording two of his three on Hawaii’s final full drive of the game. Edge rusher Marlem Louis also finished with two sacks.
“We're so closely bonded together, even though the defensive tackles and the edges are in separate rooms,” White said. “We have a great friendship and chemistry in the locker room, in the practice field, off the field. So I feel like it's really great to share the field with them.”
O’Neil finished 24 of 33 for 224 yards with one touchdown, completing passes to seven different receivers with five getting four or more targets.
“(It’s) just knowing, having belief in the play call, belief in the system, knowing that when your name does get called that you're able to go execute and make a big play,” O’Neil said.
SDSU converted their first drive of the second half after forcing a three-and-out, converting a pair of third downs to move inside the red zone. They were forced to settle for a 43-yard field goal by Plascencia after O’Neil was sacked on third down.
Hawaii scored on the ensuing drive, getting three 14-plus yard plays before Pofele Ashlock caught a six-yard touchdown on a third and goal to cut SDSU’s lead to 20-17, which held through the end of the third quarter.
After the teams traded field goals in the first quarter, Plascencia knocked through a 24-yarder on SDSU’s second drive and Kansei Matsuzawa made a 30-yard kick on Hawaii’s ensuing possession, the game opened up in the second.
The Aztecs created their turnover when Whitmore picked off Schager in one-on-one coverage on a fly route up the right sideline. SDSU scored the first touchdown when Cooper took a delayed draw up the middle nine yards to finish off the drive and make it 10-3.
“(Cooper and I) were able to have very honest conversations with each other, and I know that he's going to give me direct, honest feedback about where he's at and what he's capable of,” Lewis said. “Because of that, there's some real trust that's been earned there over time and he proved able to be more than capable yet again.”
On the Rainbow Warriors’ first touchdown, Schager hung tough in the pocket against a blitz and delivered a 23-yard touchdown pass to Tylan Hines on a fade to the left corner of the endzone to tie the game with 1:53 before halftime.
SDSU moved quickly to score before the break, going 75 yards in nine plays over 1:47. O’Neil finished by hitting wide receiver Louis Brown IV on a slant over the middle that he took 16 yards for the touchdown and a 17-10 lead the Aztecs would enjoy at the half.
The blue-collar work continues for the Aztecs in their next game, which will be at 12:30 p.m on Saturday, Oct. 12 at Wyoming.
“It's good to be the winning team, it's good to have that again," Lewis said. "The joy and the jubilation, the hugs, the smiles and all the things that come with winning again because of how invested everyone in that locker room is.”