Paradise lost: Hawaii ends Aztecs’ six-game winning streak in disappointing defeat

Visitors to Hawaii are traditionally welcomed with a friendly “Aloha” when they arrive on the Islands.

Aloha also means goodbye.

In this instance, so long to the San Diego State football team’s winning streak.

SDSU had trouble in paradise late Saturday night, making costly penalties and uncharacteristic defensive mistakes while sputtering offensively in a 38-6 Mountain West loss to Hawaii before a sellout crowd of 15,194 at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex.

The Aztecs (7-2, 4-1 MW) saw their six-game winning streak come to an end amid a persistent rain in Honolulu. SDSU’s first loss in conference play dropped the Aztecs into a first-place tie with idle Boise State (6-3, 4-1), which comes to Snapdragon Stadium for a showdown on Saturday night.

It was a critical win for the Rainbow Warriors (7-3, 4-2), who remain in the hunt for a Mountain West championship game berth among five other teams with two conference losses. And Hawaii now holds the head-to-head tiebreaker edge over the Aztecs.

The game began with promise when SDSU linebacker Owen Chambliss, who had a game-high 13 tackles, sacked Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado the first time he dropped back to pass. SDSU cornerback Deshawn McCuin, who replaced injured Chris Johnson in the starting lineup, intercepted Alejado two plays later to end the Rainbow Warriors’ first drive.

SDSU turned the turnover into a 42-yard Gabe Plascencia field goal and a 3-0 lead four minutes into the game.

The Aztecs stopped Hawaii with a three-and-out on the Rainbows’ next drive deep in their own territory, but SDSU cornerback Bryce Phillips was called for a personal foul — taunting — on the play, and everything changed after that.

All of the sudden instead of fourth-and-17 from its 18 and calling for the punt unit, Hawaii had a first-and-10 from the 33. Six plays later the Rainbows were in the end zone on Alejado’s 9-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jackson Harris. He beat Phillips on the play.

Alejado connected with Harris for two more TDs — a 34-yarder in the second quarter and a 35-yarder in the second quarter — before the first half concluded with Hawaii leading 24-6.

SDSU had not allowed a 100-yard receiver in a Mountain West-record 25 games. Harris had 116 receiving yards by halftime.

The Rainbows other first-half points came on a 22-yard field goal by kicker Kansei Matsuzawa, who is now 22-for-22 on the season.

Plascencia added a 43-yard field goal in the second quarter. But indicative of how the night went for the Aztecs, Plascencia missed a 50-yarder wide left at the end of the first half. It was only the second miss of the season for Plascencia, the most accurate kicker in SDSU history. Holder Eemil Herranen had trouble getting the ball placed after a high snap by new long snapper Luke Williams.

Any ideas SDSU had of making a game of it in the second half were dismissed when the third quarter began with Hawaii’s Cam Barfield returned the kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown.

SDSU’s Jordan Napier provided a brief spark when he returned the ensuing kickoff 48 yards. The Aztecs offense showed signs of life, advancing to Hawaii’s 21-yard line. But misfortune intervened again.

SDSU quarterback Jayden Denegal looked and looked for a receiver when he dropped back on second-and-2, then lofted a ball to the end zone that came down in the arms of Hawaii  safety Kilinahe Mendiola.

Denegal (10-for-27, 132 yards, 2 INT) was intercepted again before the third quarter ended, this time by Hawaii nickelback Elijah Palmer, who returned it 53 yards for a touchdown that completed the scoring.

Hawaii had 386 yards in total offense, piling up 300 yards in the first half.

SDSU’s usually stout running game was net negative most of the first half before running back Lucky Sutton (18 carries, 78 yards) found some room to roam for a 20-yard gain with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter.

The Aztecs finished with 34 carries for 135 yards. The biggest run came in the game’s final two minutes when backup quarterback Bert Emanuel Jr. replaced Denegal and got loose up the middle for a 41-yard gain.

Three plays later, Emanuel was dropped for a 6-yard loss, fumbled the ball and Hawaii recovered.