FRESNO, CALIF. >> It was the Rally in the Valley.

Down by 13 points in the fourth quarter and seemingly out of please-please-please chances, the Hawaii football surged to Saturday’s 21-20 victory over Fresno State at Valley Children’s Stadium.

Fresno State’s self-styled “Red Wave” of 41,575 fans was stunned into silence when the Rainbow Warriors imposed a three-and-out defensive stand spanning 19 seconds and then went 47 yards for the lead with 15 seconds to play. Brayden Schager’s 3-yard pass to wide-open slotback Nick Cenacle in the right flat tied it at 20.

Then Kansei Matsuzawa’s point-after kick was true.

“I just locked in and did my job,” Matsuzawa said.

And the Warriors’ defense finished it off when the Bulldogs’ catch-and-lateral ended at the UH 40 after time expired.

“What a great win,” said UH coach Timmy Chang, whose Warriors entered 1-14 in road games during his three-season tenure. “I’m proud of these boys. Their resilience. They bought in and did the right things.”

During the on-field celebration, several Warriors took a knee. “First of all, all glory to God,” quarterback Brayden Schager said. “The way God worked through all of us was unbelievable. It made my faith grow stronger 100%.”

For most of the game, the Warriors endured several breakdowns. On second-and-8 from the Warriors’ 20 in the first quarter, defensive tackle Malachi Finau forced a fumble that defensive end Elijah Robinson recovered. But the officials ruled UH linebacker Noah Kema hit a “defenseless” receiver running a crossing route. The fumble was overturned, a 10-yard personal foul was assessed and, on the ensuing play, Fresno State running back Elijah Gilliam ran 10 yards to tie it at 7.

In the second quarter, Schager suffered a sack/fumble on a fourth-and-1 that the Bulldogs parlayed into Mikey Keene’s 5-yard scoring pass to Raylen Sharpe for a 13-7 lead. But UH’s Cam Stone blocked the point-after attempt in what would prove to be a game-deciding play.

“I kind of saw on the first (point-after kick) he didn’t put his hands on me,” Stone said of the Bulldogs’ wing blocker. “I guess he didn’t think I was a big threat. He gave me the edge. I took pride in it. They gave me an opportunity to block, and I gave it all I had. … I knew I blocked it. It was a little loud. I looked around for (the ball) because I wanted to score.”

Down 13-7, the Warriors drove into the red zone in the third quarter. But on third-and-9 from the Fresno State 20, the Warriors were penalized for a false start. On the next play, Schager fled to his left, then tried to fire a pass across to the middle. Linebacker Tuasivi Nomura deflected the ball into the air. Backup linebacker Phoenix Jackson caught the popup, then raced 89 yards the other way on the pick-6 to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 20-7 with 3:57 remaining in the third quarter.

The Warriors closed to 20-14 on Brayden Schager’s 9-yard pass to Cenacle, who was wide open in the left corner of the end zone, with 9:04 to play.

The Warriors regained possession with 6:58 to go, then drove to the Bulldogs’ 36. On third-and-5, Schager threw 14 yards to Cenacle, who made the catch and eluded the grasp of cornerback Julian Neal. But Jackson then knocked the football free from Cenacle’s grasp, and safety Jayden Davis recovered it at the 22 with 1:49 to play.

“I just have to be better with ball security,” Cenacle said. “I tried to get too loose with the ball and tried to do too much. I had the first down. I had the play. I should have gone down and lived for another play.”

As the defense ran onto the field, several players promised that Cenacle would be given a shot at redemption. “We had a job to do,” defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman said. “There was time left on the clock. They say you play 60 minutes. We had to play 60 minutes.”

Gilliam netted 1 yard on the first two rushes of the Bulldogs’ drive. On third down, UH linebackers Jalen Smith and Jamih Otis agreed on a strategy depending on Keene’s dropback direction. When Keene rolled toward Otis’ side, that left Smith to face a lone blocker.

“There aren’t many people who can block me or Jamih one-on-one, let alone our entire D-line,” said Smith, who beat the block and sacked Keene, setting up a punt and a final possession for UH.

Led by Schager’s passing and scrambles. the Warriors advanced to the 18. Three incompletions — including Cenacle’s drop on a post pattern in the end zone — set up a fourth-and-10. Schager lofted a pass to running back Tylan Hines in the end zone with 28 seconds left. The ball fell incomplete. But the sideline judge called Nomura for pass interference, giving UH the ball — and extended life — at the 3.

Two incompletions later, Chang called for “Peter,” a double-post play. On his third read, Schager noticed slotback Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala used a crossing route to move a defender away from Cenacle. “Tama, Alex (Perry), all those guys out there, without them running the routes like they did, I wouldn’t be open,” Cenacle said.

Schager said Mokiao-Atimalala “did a good job of setting it up. I was able to get (Cenacle) in the flat. I saw the man coverage, the cover zero (no safety in a zone). The O-line did a great job giving the time. … I had the guy out there, and that’s how you frickin’ do it. (Cenacle’s) a dawg.”

Hines said: “We kept our trust and our faith in God. We kept executing (on the final drive). We kept going. We weren’t going to quit. We knew we had to get the ball back, and when we did, we knew we’d get into the end zone.”

GAME STATS

FIRST QUARTER

HAWAII

>> Pofele Ashlock 5 pass from

Brayden Schager. Kansei

Matsuzawa kick

>> Drive: 14 plays, 75 yards,

7:48 elapsed time.

>> Time: 7:12. Score:

Hawaii 7, Fresno State 0

FRESNO STATE

>> Elijah Gilliam 10 run. Dylan

Lynch kick.

>> Drive: 12 plays, 83 yards,

5:34 elapsed time.

>> Time: 1:32 Score:

Hawaii 7, Fresno State 7

SECOND QUARTER

FRESNO STATE

>> Raylen Sharpe 5 pass from

Mikey Keene. Kick blocked.

>> Drive: 8 plays, 28 yards,

2:31 elapsed time.

>>Time: 10:21. Score:

Fresno State 13, Hawaii 7

THIRD QUARTER

FRESNO STATE

>> Phoenix Jackson 89 interception return. Lynch kick.

>> Time: 3:58. Score:

Fresno State 20, Hawaii 7

FOURTH QUARTER

HAWAII

>> Nick Cenacle 9 pass from

Schager. Matsuzawa kick.

>> Drive: 12 plays, 87 yards,

4:40 elapsed time.

>> Time: 9:04. Score:

Fresno State 20, Hawaii 14

HAWAII

>> Cenacle 3 pass from

Schager. Matsuzawa kick..

>> Drive: 10 plays, 47 yards,

1:15 elapsed time.

>> Time: 0:15. Score:

Hawaii 21, Fresno State 20

TEAM STATISTICS

UH FSU

First downs 24 14

Rushes-yards 36-102 21-19

Passing 244 157

Comp-Att-Int 29-53-1 25-31-0

Return Yards 1 53

Punts-Avg. 4-47.2 7-43.7

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 12-108 6-54

Time of Poss. 38:08 21:52

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Hawaii: Tylan

Hines 12-66, Landon Sims

5-22, Brayden Schager 17-15,

Cam Barfield 1-2, Micah Alejado 1-minus 3. Fresno State:

Elijah Gilliam 10-25, Joshua

Wood 4-12, Bryson Donelson

3-10, Mikey Keene 4-minus 28.

PASSING—Hawaii: Schager

29-53-1—244. Fresno State:

Keene 25-31-0—157.

RECEIVING—Hawaii: Nick

Cenacle 12-113, Pofele Ashlock

3-30, Hines 3-21, Jonah Panoke

3-14, Karsyn Pupunu 2-19,

Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala 2-5,

Spencer Curtis 1-28, Oakie

Salave’a 1-8, Sims 1-3, Alex Perry 1-3. Fresno State: Raylen

Sharpe 5-48, Mac Dalena 5-38,

Jalen Moss 4-21, Gilliam 3-17,

Richie Anderson 2-14, Jake

Tarwater 2-5, Donelson 2-minus

10, Jake Boust 1-10, Lyndon

Ravare 1-8. Tim Gear Jr. 0-6.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—No

misses.

HAWAII TACKLERS (solo/

assist)—Devyn King 5/1, Elijah

Robinson 4/1, 2.0 sacks-9

yards, 3.0 TFL-12 yards;

Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen 4/1;

Daniel Williams 3/1 1.0 sacks-5

yards, 2.0 TFL-7 yards; Nalu

Emerson 2/2; Jalen Smith 2/2;

1.0 sacks-14 yards, 2.5 TFL-20

yards; Elijah Palmer 3/0, 1.0

sacks-5 yards.

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