HONOLULU — Micah Alejado threw two touchdown passes, Kansei Matsuzawa made three field goals — including a 38-yarder as time expired — to help Hawaii beat Stanford 23-20 on Saturday night in the season opener for both teams.
Hawaii beat a power conference team for the first time since opening the 2019 season with back-to-back wins over then-Pac-12 teams Arizona and Oregon State.
Hawaii won in its first game against an ACC opponent. The Rainbow Warriors are 1-4 all-time against Stanford — all in Honolulu.
Alejado walked gingerly off the field after he was sacked by Matt Rose early in the second half but returned to start the next drive and finished 27-of-39 passing for 210 yards and added 36 yards rushing. Pofele Ashlock had nine receptions for 69 yards and a touchdown.
Hawaii took possession at its own 28 with 1:33 to play and a limping Alejado went 5 of 7 for 51 yards to set up Matsuzawa’s winning kick.
Matsuzawa also made field goals of 40 and 37 yards, with the 37-yarder tying the score with 2:01 remaining.
Micah Ford had 26 carries for 113 yards and a TD for Stanford.
Emmet Kenney made field goals of 23 to open the scoring and Brandon White mistakenly downed the ensuing kickoff at the 1. On Hawaii’s first offensive play from scrimmage, Clay Patterson strip-sacked Micah Alejado before Wilfredo Aybar recovered the fumble in the end zone to give Stanford a 10-0 lead with 7:08 left in the first quarter.
Alejado threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Pofele Ashlock to make it 10-7 with 2:19 left in the first.
Jackson Harris — a transfer from Stanford — caught a 19-yard TD pass from Alejado with 42 seconds left in the first half that gave Hawaii its first lead at 14-13. The Cardinal committed three 15-yard penalties on Hawaii’s 75-yard drive.
Stanford put together a 20-play, 85-yard that took more than 9 1/2 minutes off the clock before Ford scored on a 2-yard run that gave the Cardinal a 20-17 lead with 9:41 left in the game.
Kenney added a 46-yard field goal in the first half for the Cardinal.
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