Warriors sweep weekly Mountain West awards

After defeating Stanford 23-20 in Saturdays opener, the University of Hawaii football team today swept the Mountain Wests weekly awards.

Quarterback Micah Alejado was named the top offensive player and freshman; safety Kililnahe Mendiola-Jensen was picked as the top defender, and kicker Kansei Matsuzawa was named specialist of the week.

It was the first Mountain West honors for those three Warriors.

Playing the second half on a sore right ankle, second-year freshman Alejado led the Warriors to the tying and winning drives in the final 2 minutes.

Alejado finished 27-for-39 for 210 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 9.5 yards on six non-sack scrambles.

Mendiola-Jensen, a senior safety, made a leaping interception to set up the Warriors game-tying drive.

Mendiola-Jensen, who transferred from UNLV in 2023, also had two pass breakups.

Matsuzawa, who was born and reared in Japan, converted all three of his field goals, including a 38-yarder as time expired.

Matsuzawa, who aspired to kick after attending a Los Angeles Rams game during a 2018 vacation.

is a self-educator who learned to kick from YouTube videos and to speak English from listening to junior college teammates ahead of joining UH in 2023.

The Warriors travel to Tucson on Thursday in advance of Saturdays road game against Arizona.

-- More UH football coverage.

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