KAPA‘A — Waimea’s Devan Banasihan-Kenney pulled in a 1-yard scoring pass from Alika Emayo, but the effort came up short as Kapa‘a wrapped up a 34-18 win over the Menehune, Saturday at the Kapa‘a New Park stadium. That score came
KAPA‘A — Waimea’s Devan Banasihan-Kenney pulled in a 1-yard scoring pass from Alika Emayo, but the effort came up short as Kapa‘a wrapped up a 34-18 win over the Menehune, Saturday at the Kapa‘a New Park stadium.
That score came in the face of a 34-12 deficit that opened the final period of play when Kapa‘a tapped paydirt on a Brentton Rapozo-to-Tanner Crawford 1-yard scoring pass with just seven seconds peeled off the period.
That drive was started late in the third period when John Das plucked an Emayo air ball, the first of two Emayo interceptions, that was strapped with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to start the drive on the Waimea 37-yard line with 1:24 showing in the period.
The drive was fueled by a Rapozo-Marshall Adkisson strike for 17 yards, coming to rest on the Menehune 7-yard line with just seven ticks remaining. Rapozo capped that drive on the hit to Crawford for the score to open the final period.
Rapozo, throwing for three touchdowns, completed 11 of 17 passes with no interceptions for 169 yards, according to statistics provided by Joel Pahukula, Jason Ahuna and H Hawai‘i Media. He also ran for 11 carries and piled up 30 yards rushing en route to being announced The Garden Island newspaper Player of the Game, the award being presented by Yukie DeSilva whose son plays for the Kapa‘a JV team.
Waimea struck first, capping the opening kickoff drive on a 1-yard charge to the end zone by Emayo, the drive starting on its own 12-yard line and fueled by Emayo carries before a crowd that filled the stadium and uttered audible comments about endangered seabirds, the reason games were moved to Saturday afternoon from Friday night.
Emayo finished the night as the leading rusher for Waimea with 18 carries for 109 yards, the best performance of the day, surpassing Kapa‘a leading rusher, Waika Alapa‘i, who finished with 13 carries for 105 yards and one touchdown, a 29-yarder.
But Kapa‘a answered when Rapozo found Adkisson on an 11-yard strike over the efforts of Waimea’s Tylan Remata in the end zone at the 8:56 mark in the first half.
Max Goode’s point-after boot put Kapa‘a up 7-6, only to have the Menehune answer on the drive following the ensuing kickoff, when Waimea quarterback Jae Delos Reyes kept the ball on a 4-yard run to paydirt at the 8:06 mark for the 12-7 bulge.
Goode came up with two field goals to put Kapa‘a up 13-12 at the half. Goode’s first field goal, a 27-yarder, came with 3:06 remaining in the half, and the second, a 28-yarder, came as time expired in the half.
Kapa‘a burst out of the locker room for three second-half scores, two in the third quarter and one in the final period, while Waimea was held to just a single TD that came in the final period.
Alapa‘i found the end zone on a 29-yard romp in the third period followed by Adkisson pulling in a Rapozo pass for a 57-yard score with 1:42 showing on the board.
That came over the efforts of Menehune defender Jonathan Tangalin, who had an interception in the end zone nullified by a pass-interference call late in the second quarter.
Bronson Fune, Esaias Mose and Vinda Carineo topped the Menehune defense with five unassisted stops each.
Kevin Cremer and Mark Hatchell each had four unassisted tackles for Kapa‘a, Hatchell also getting a quarterback sack.
Overall, Kapa‘a peeled off 365 yards on 62 plays, compared to 226 yards on 42 plays by Waimea, the difference coming in third-down conversions, where the Warriors were 6-11 to Waimea’s 1-7, and Kapa‘a had control of the ball for 25:31 to Waimea’s 18:58.
Waimea hosts Kaua‘i at Hanapepe Stadium on Saturday. The JV game is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. with the varsity match starting no later than 3 p.m.
