HONOLULU — Dru Brown passed for 311 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions on Saturday night and Hawaii beat Massachusetts 46-40 to become bowl eligible in the regular season finale for both teams.
Brown threw the go-ahead TD pass 56 yards to Keelan Ewaliko, capping the scoring with 3:52 left in the game. Hawaii (6-7) missed the extra-point conversion.
UMass (2-10) reached the Hawaii 17 on the ensuing drive but lost 4 yards to set up a fourth-and-11 from the 21. Andrew Ford’s pass was broken up in the end zone and the Minutemen turned it over on downs with 1:05 to play.
Ford finished with 342 yards passing and three touchdowns. His 27-yard TD pass to Jalen Williams gave UMass its only lead at 26-24 with 7:46 left in the third quarter.
Hawaii surged to a 40-26 lead early in the fourth and UMass tied it at 40 with 5:29 left.
Diocemy Saint Juste led the way on the ground for the Rainbow Warriors, racking up 122 yards and a 40-yard touchdown run.
Former Keaau standout Damien Packer led UH on defense, tallying a team-high nine tackles and recording one pass breakup.
While nothing is a certainty, in all likelyhood the ‘Bows will be playing in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve.