Arizona Football: It’s Heartbreak hotel for the Wildcats to start 2019

Arizona Football: No one said it was going to be easy, but the outcome was not what many of the Wildcat faithful were hoping for to start the year.

From Tucson to the beautiful Islands of Hawaii for what the football community calls “Week Zero”, but for both the Arizona and Hawaii Football programs, it was the first week of the season. The coaches, players and fans knew that this game would be a test for the Arizona Football team early on this season, and unfortunately that’s a hard lesson we all learning on Saturday.

Coming in as 11-point favorites against the Rainbow Warriors, instead Arizona heads home with a heartbreaking loss by the score of 45-38. With such a disheartening loss, the Wildcats will have a lot to improve on before their next game against NAU.

Arizona Wildcats

Things were rocky from the start, as the Wildcats did not take control of the game early when they had their opportunity with an interception by Jace Whittaker. The momentum gained by the defensive stand didn’t last long, as the Wildcats were quick to give the ball back with an interception of their own.

This opened the door for the Hawaii football team to take an early 14-0 lead. It was not until the fourth drive for the Wildcats’ offense, that they finally gained their footing, as Khalil Tate connected with Bryce Wolma for a touchdown.

The Cats and Rainbow Warriors would then exchange blows before half time with Hawaii landing the last punch with a long touchdown pass right before the end of the first half, giving the Rainbow Warriors a 28-21 lead at half.

Needing some form of life, the Cats came out in the second half the same way they did the first. Their first three possessions ended in punts, but again, Arizona never seemingly took advantage in order to gain control of the game. Instead the Wildcats dug themselves into another hole, allowing Hawaii to extend their lead to 35-21.

However, with the explosive offense that the Cats have and craziness of the game, there was no way anyone thought it was over. And it wasn’t, as the Cats came storming back to tie the game at 35 heading into the fourth quarter.

On the first drive of the fourth quarter the Cats defense bended, but did not break as they held the Rainbow Warriors to just a field goal. Small victory!

Now trailing only by three with the score being 38-35, the Wildcats once again had a chance to control the game by taking the lead mid way through the fourth quarter.

With the help of Tate and J.J. Taylor, the Cats were in the red zone before the fans could blink an eye. Once again, the Cats offense came up short with an interception in the end zone that would virtually end this one.

Unfortunately Hawaii was quick to answer, as they rumbled down field to score a touchdown of their own. With the score, Hawaii then lead 45-35 and the fans of Arizona were quick to pronounce this game as over.

Not so much, as the Cats would drive down into field goal range and knock it through the uprights to bring the Cats within a touchdown of tying the game!

The defense would again stand tall and give the ball back to the offense with a minute remaining and no timeouts.

Luckily, Arizona was then able to march down the field all the way to the Hawaii 31 yard line.

With just ten seconds remaining in the game, Tate would take the snap, observe the field before taking off with nothing but open field ahead of him. At the five yard line, he was then met by two members of the Hawaii secondary before being tackled from behind at the one yard line with no time left.

45-38 Hawaii, ball game.

Yes, this was not the picture perfect start to the season that we all had wanted, but by no means does it mean our season is over, nor do we need to start with the narrative of “When is Basketball season?” Being the true fans that we are, it is time to show a little heart and pride just like the football team did tonight. Win or lose, always Bear Down with class and dignity! Go Cats!