LAS VEGAS — Tre Fulton and Kal-El Togafau earned Mountain West weekly honors Monday after supplying sacks and scoring-area stops in UNLV’s 21-6 win at Hawai‘i.
Fulton, a sophomore safety, was named Defensive Player of the Week. Togafau, a redshirt freshman lineman, received Freshman of the Week after the Rebels kept Hawai‘i without a touchdown Saturday.
Fulton made a career-high 12 tackles, including eight solo stops, with a sack, forced fumble and pass breakup. Late in the third quarter, Hawai‘i appeared to have a touchdown until replay showed he had knocked the pass away in the end zone.
Fulton’s sack came with UNLV protecting a 7-3 lead in the second quarter. Hawai‘i had reached its own 48 and faced second-and-6 when he dropped Micah Alejado for an 8-yard loss. An incompletion on third-and-14 followed, and the Rainbow Warriors punted.
Togafau supplied two sacks on the same possession, the first two of his college career. The second pushed Hawai‘i back six yards on first-and-goal, as another scoring opportunity stalled. The 6-foot-3, 270-pound lineman is the first UNLV defender to win the league’s freshman award since it began in 2021.
Togafau’s first sack came much deeper in Hawai‘i territory, dropping Alejado from the 11 to the 9 early in a third-quarter possession. Hawai‘i recovered from the setback, converting third-and-4 and moving across midfield through passes and quarterback runs. Alejado gained 12 and 15 on separate runs before the drive reached scoring range.
A 14-yard completion to Nick Delgadillo and a targeting penalty on Landyn Cleveland put Hawai‘i at the UNLV 9. Togafau then delivered his second sack, leaving second-and-goal from the 15. One incompletion followed before backup quarterback Bjorn Jurgensen threw toward Audric Harris in the end zone on third down. Fulton’s breakup completed the defensive response after Togafau had moved the line of scrimmage backward. Hawai‘i settled for Sean Olvera-Harle’s 33-yard field goal, trimming UNLV’s lead to 14-6.
Hawai‘i ran 14 plays on the possession and kept the ball for 6:31. The Rainbow Warriors had already opened the half with another extended drive, reaching the UNLV 15 before Elias Rudolph sacked Alejado on third-and-9. Olvera-Harle missed from 41 yards. Across those two possessions, Hawai‘i spent almost the entire third quarter moving the ball but came away with three points.
Fulton continued making tackles as Hawai‘i threatened again early in the fourth. He stopped DeVon Rice after gains of 16 and nine yards, then tackled Sitani Mikaele after a 5-yard third-down conversion. The Rainbow Warriors eventually reached the UNLV 10, facing fourth-and-1. Lucas Conti and Kamuela Ka’aihue stopped Mikaele for a 1-yard loss.
Fulton’s forced fumble came on Hawai‘i’s final possession after UNLV stretched the lead to 21-6. Devin Alves caught a 19-yard pass and lost the ball when Fulton reached him, although Alves recovered it himself. Two snaps later, Quandarius Keyes intercepted Alejado at the UNLV 29. UNLV’s offense kept the ball for the remaining 3:42, preventing Hawai‘i from taking another snap.
The rest of the rush helped finish the result alongside the two honorees. Kenji Scanlan recorded the fifth sack on third-and-13 midway through the fourth quarter after Conti hurried Alejado into an incompletion on second down. Hawai‘i punted from its 8, and Jai’Den Thomas scored on a 50-yard run on UNLV’s next play. The defensive stop produced field position the offense could immediately use, turning an eight-point game into a two-score lead.
UNLV’s passing defense also kept Hawai‘i’s production spread thin. Alejado completed 17 of 41 throws for 176 yards and an interception. Jurgensen missed both of his attempts, and no Hawai‘i receiver finished with more than 27 yards. The Rainbow Warriors still possessed the ball for 32:05 and collected 20 first downs. Fulton and Togafau earned recognition for a night when the defense repeatedly had to make another stop after Hawai‘i had extended a drive.
After allowing 27 points, 418 total yards and 195 rushing yards against Memphis, UNLV held Hawai‘i without a touchdown. Memphis had gained 275 yards on 13 explosive plays: seven completions of at least 15 yards and six runs of at least 10. The Rebels finished the Hawai‘i game with five sacks, seven tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, an interception and seven pass breakups. They had one sack in the opener.
Hawai‘i’s six points were its fewest against UNLV in a series dating to 1969. They were also the fewest UNLV has allowed away since beating Wisconsin 23-5 in 2003, and its lowest total allowed on the road in Mountain West play since a 24-3 win at BYU in 2002.
Andre Porter had helped keep the first Hawai‘i scoring drive to a field goal, too, according to UNLV’s official play-by-play. After Mikaele converted fourth-and-1 with a 10-yard run to the UNLV 21, Porter broke up Alejado’s first-down throw toward Alves and his third-down pass toward Rice. Hawai‘i gained nothing on the three plays after that conversion. Olvera-Harle’s kick supplied its only first-half points.
Fulton, from Bakersfield, California, has 18 tackles and two sacks through two games after making 33 tackles in 14 appearances last season. He follows recent weekly defensive awards for UNLV safeties Aamaris Brown last season and Jalen Catalon in 2024.
UNLV visits North Texas on Saturday, with kickoff at 12:45 p.m. PT on ESPNU.
