On senior night, a Freon-veined freshman quarterback had a starting debut for the ages.
Micah Alejado threw for 469 yards and five touchdowns — both single-game highs for a first-year Rainbow Warrior — in leading the Hawaii football team to a 38-30 victory over New Mexico at the Ching Complex.
A crowd of 10,324 saw the Warriors gain a season-high 586 yards in completing Timmy Chang’s third season as head coach at 5-7 overall and 3-4 in the Mountain West.
The outcome extinguished the Lobos’ hope for a postseason bowl. The Lobos also finished 5-7 and 3-4.
Alejado, who completed 37 of 57 passes, was not sacked. He also has not been intercepted since his junior year at Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas.
“It was good to send the (23) seniors off with a win,” Alejado said. “It was amazing for them, and to build off the program for next year.”
Alejado took nine classes last fall to earn enough credits to graduate early and join the Warriors in January. Because Saturday’s game was his fourth of the season, he remains eligible to redshirt and still have four more years to play four seasons.
“He’s a special kid,” said UH associate head coach Chris Brown, who was the point recruiter for Alejado. “He’s been playing big-time football for a long time. When you win national championships, the kid knows what he’s doing. He makes very few mistakes.”
In the Warriors’ previous game two weeks ago, starting quarterback Brayden Schager suffered an injury to his left knee in the opening series of the second half against Utah State. An MRI showed Schager suffered a sprained knee. It was hoped last week’s bye would allow Schager a chance to at least take Saturday’s first snap to extend his streak of starts to 34. But Schager did not practice the past two weeks. Alejado took all the snaps with the first-team offense.
“I wasn’t nervous,” Alejado said. “I think I was too excited. Going through the whole season, I wanted to play for so long. Tonight was the time to shine.”
The Warriors tweaked their offense, going with quicker plays, sometimes adding a second running back to the offense, and employing more run/pass options to what has become a mashup of the run-and-shoot and Air Raid. Quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison said the snap-to-throw goal was 2.2 seconds or quicker.
It was Alejado’s quick release, speed rolls out of the pocket and accuracy — on deep routes and slants — that set the tone.
“The game of the run-and-shoot is get the ball out,” Alejado said. “I tried to do that and get the offense rolling. Whatever works and gets yards working, that’s the offense we’re running. Get the ball downfield, make plays, get the touchdown.”
Morrison said: “He worked on getting the ball out really quick. He worked on getting his eyes really quick. His feet were really good. He did a great job. He befuddled them. He caused some havoc because they were worried about him scrambling around. It’s a very good start for him, a new chapter.”
In constructing a 21-9 lead at the intermission, Alejado was 19-for-33 for 273 yards and three touchdowns. He also intentionally threw away passes when the routes were congested and the pressure intensified, and even attempted to block a defensive end when Cam Barfield, a fellow Bishop Gorman High alum, tried to cut back against the flow.
Alejado directed the Warriors on a 94-yard drive, their longest of the season, for a 7-0 lead. Alejado threw to slotback Pofele Ashlock, who broke open in the left flat. After a review, the 3-yard touchdown was confirmed because Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala’s block was ahead of the line of scrimmage and ruled not to be a pick play.
Later, Alejado and Mokiao-Atimalala collaborated on touchdown plays of 15 and 3 yards.
“I knew he could throw like that,” Mokiao-Atimalala said. “We practice routes on air (against no defense) 40 minutes every day. That connection showed tonight how amazing a quarterback he can be. … I knew him growing up. That’s the crazy part. He was a little kid running the show, and now he’s here with me.”
Alejado said: “Dude, I grew up playing with him with the Ewa Beach Sabers. I played on a 7-on-7 team with him my sixth-grade year. “
Alejado also found wideout Dekel Crowdus two strides ahead of the secondary on a skinny post for a 52-yard scoring pass and a 14-6 lead.
“Micah’s been on target the whole week of practice,” Crowdus said. “I knew that was going to happen. … His throws are kind of different coming from a left-handed quarterback. But I’m pretty used to it, running routes on air, and getting the chemistry with him. I knew he was going to be ready for this game.”
When the Lobos went on a 14-3 run to close to 31-23, Alejado led a 75-yard scoring drive that resulted in a 3-yard scoring pass to Mokiao-Atimalalo with 8:48 to play.
La’Quari Rogers’ 1-yard rush cut it to 38-30.
But UH’s Spencer Curtis recovered the ensuing on-side kick.
“I was paying attention to the ball, and it popped up, and I grabbed it,” Curtis said.
Later, on third-and-10, Alejado rolled to his right, pirouetted and fired 11 yards to Curtis along the right sideline for a first down as the Warriors began to run out the clock.
“I saw him scramble and I tried to find some open space,” Curtis said. “He threw it, I caught it. It’s history.”