Fresno St. beats Hawaii 23-21 in MWC opener, extends win streak to 4 games

HONOLULU (AP) — K’Vion Thunderbird returned an interception 59 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter and Fresno State beat Hawaii 23-21 on Saturday night in the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams.

Thunderbird, a sophomore linebacker, lined up over the right guard and started to rush before he took a short drop, snagging a pick-6 that made it 23-15 with 5:20 left in the game.

Fresno State (4-1) has won four straight since a season-opening loss at Kansas.

Micah Alejado threw a 10-yard TD pass to Blaze Kamoku that made it 23-21 with 10 seconds left but Alejado’s pass intended for Brandon White fell incomplete on the 2-point conversion attempt. The Bulldogs recovered the onside kick attempt.

E.J. Warner was 22-of-29 passing for 230 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown to Richie Anderson III that cut the Fresno State (4-1) deficit to 9-7 with 38 seconds left in the first half.

De’jon Benton strip-sacked Warner in the end zone and the resulting safety gave Hawaii (3-2) a 2-0 lead midway through the first quarter and Jamih Otis had a scooped up a fumbled lateral and raced 37 yards yards for a touchdown to make it 9-0.

Alejado was 28-of-42 passing for 219 yards and threw two of his career-high three interceptions in the fourth quarter.

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