HANAPEPE — Dryke Smith-Butac ran for two touchdowns to lead the Kaua‘i High School Junior Varsity to a 30-18 edge over Waimea, Saturday afternoon at the Hanapepe Stadium.
Grant Basquez, special teams kicker for the Junior Red Raiders, finished with four point-after boots and a field goal to help in the victory.
The Junior Menehune were scrappy, marking its first touchdown in the second quarter in the face of a 21-0 deficit.
But undaunted, Waimea’s quarterback, Chava Delos Reyes, passed for one and ran for two touchdowns, two coming in the final period in its loss.
Kaua‘i opened strong with Smith-Butac marking two touchdowns and Marcus Martinez adding one score before Delos Reyes found Issaiah Dela Cruz-Muratake on a 75-yard scoring pass play with 3:47 showing in the first half for the 21-6 deficit at the break.
The Red Raider defense coughed up its next touchdown with less than a minute to play in the third quarter when James Bukoski snared a bad snap on a Menehune punt that rolled into the end zone at the :55.6 mark.
Basquez’s PAT boot saw the scoreboard settle at 27-6 when the buzzer sounded.
Another Red Raider defensive play yielded a field goal in the final period when Kaua‘i quarterback Trey Aguano salvaged a broken play, calling on Basquez to split the uprights on a field goal from the Menehune 20-yard line for the 30-6 bulge.
But Waimea answered on the ensuing kickoff series when Delos Reyes hit the end zone following a seven-yard run, the point-after, a pass from Delos Reyes to Hazard McDougall being broken up.
Delos Reyes recovered a muffed kickoff return on the Kaua‘i 38-yard line to set the stage for Waimea’s final touchdown, a nine-yard charge by Delos Reyes with 4:30 remaining in the game.
During that drive, Delos Reyes hit Nohili Kahepu‘u for a 20-yard pickup.
But the fireworks was not over as Kaua‘i’s Aguano slanted left for a 16-yard jaunt to the end zone with 1:16 showing in the game.
That run was called back on an illegal equipment penalty against Kaua‘i as the Menehune defense stiffened to run out the clock.
Kaua‘i opens the final leg of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation football season by traveling to the New Kapa‘a Town Park stadium, Saturday, the Warriors’ homecoming game.
The JV game kicks off at 1:30 p.m. with the varsity games starting about 4:30 p.m. The stadium lights will be turned on at twilight and turned off an hour following the completion of the varsity game.
