It was a long journey from Southern Cal to South Alabama for Sean Schroeder.

Over the three months in between, the Hawaii quarterback endured an often trying run of hard hits and tough lessons.

He ended it by helping the Warriors to victories in the final two games of a 3-9 campaign, capping the season with a 23-7 win over South Alabama on Saturday.

"I think it’s something we can build off of going into the offseason," Schroeder said. "We have a very young team, we have a lot coming back, so I think the future’s bright for this team and I think everybody’s excited to get back after the Christmas holiday."

Schroeder started the season’s first nine games, lost the spot for a week and gained it back for the final two.

He ended his junior year and first as a college starter by throwing for 131 yards and a touchdown as the Warriors generated a season-high 410 yards in total offense in a senior night win at Aloha Stadium.

Schroeder completed 10 of 21 passes, was intercepted twice in the third quarter and also threw a 26-yard pass to Chris Gant to account for Hawaii’s final touchdown of the season.

"We needed him and he did a nice job," UH coach Norm Chow said in summing up Schroeder’s season. "He took a pretty good beating and that wasn’t fair to him and he did a nice job. …He’s a tough guy."

Schroeder was sacked twice on Saturday and entered the game with a sore back that kept him out of practice early in the week.

"My back was pretty banged up," said Schroeder, whose parents, aunt and uncle made the trip from California for UH’s last two games. "I wasn’t going to miss the last game; it was pretty painful and I just wanted to push through it. I knew I’d have a lot of rest after (the game). I’m going to take some time off to get my body right after this season."

Schroeder’s playing time was limited to a few snaps over the previous three years at Duke. In his first season of full-time action, he completed 50.8 percent of his passes for 1,878 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions as the Warriors struggled through an eight-game skid on the way to a second straight sub-.500 season.

"It’s tough," Schroeder said. "It’s football — you’re going to have good seasons and you’re going to have bad seasons. I think it’s how you react to the tough times, and that’s what builds character. I think as a team we showed a lot of character this season.

"We had higher expectations of this season, obviously I did, too. It was a lot of ups and downs and we’re going to learn from this and build on it for next season."

Four of Schroeder’s throws on Saturday went to fellow junior Billy Ray Stutzmann, who finished with a game-high 88 yards and led the Warriors this season with 38 receptions for 447 yards.

"It was a really humbling experience to go through this season how we did," Stutzmann said. "Our mentality is going to change a little bit and we’re going to work that much harder in the offseason."

Gant’s touchdown catch was his third of the season, giving him the team lead, and stretched UH’s advantage to 23-0 in the third quarter.

"We wanted to send our seniors out on a high note and get momentum for next year," Gant said.

As for the competition heading into next season, the Warriors are slated to return all three quarterbacks on the active roster and add redshirts Taylor Graham and Ikaika Woolsey to the competition.

"We’ll see," Chow said. "We’ll decide that later."