HANAPEPE — The Kapa‘a High School Warriors traveled to Hanapepe Stadium to take on the Waimea Menehune in the regular season finale Saturday night. The Warriors would recover after a season ending loss last week to the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders to win 21-10 over the Menehune.
“The game itself was a microcosm of our whole season. We had spurts of brilliance and elements of complete frustration,” said Head Coach Keli‘i Morgado. “We had ups and downs all year.”
The Warriors started off with a bang on its first possession to take the ball 65 yards on eight plays, which culminated in a 1-yard touchdown run by Fresno Masaniai.
Kapa‘a would use both Masaniai and Turtle Kuhaulua under center and both were very effective throughout the game.
“Both have skill and leadership ability. It creates a sense of stability going into next season,” Morgado said.
Kuhaulua would go on to finish with 30-yards rushing on eight carries and 51-yards passing on 8 attempts. Masaniai finished with 60-yards rushing on 12 carries with 111-yards passing with two touchdowns and even caught a pass for 16-yards.
The Waimea Menehune would follow the Warrior drive with a nice 17-play drive of its own, which would finish with an impressive 36-yard field goal from kicker Wyatt Taniguchi, leaving the Menehune trailing 7-3 early in the second quarter.
The Warriors would back up its opening drive with an equally impressive 67-yard drive, which would also end in a Kapa‘a touchdown. This time it was a 4-yard Masaniai pass to Kaikea Sonoda, which netted Kapa‘a the 14-3 lead.
A three and out from Waimea late in the second quarter would set Kapa‘a up on its own 32-yard line.
Solid work on the ground from Masaniai and Kuhaulua would get the Warriors on the Menehune 20-yard line with less than 10 seconds left to play.
Masaniai would drop back and find wide receiver Reece Hicks-Whetsel in the end zone, which gave Kapa‘a the 21-3 lead heading into the half.
The second half seemed to be a different tale as Waimea would have the better offensive drives but could never capitalize, mostly due to penalties and turnovers.
Waimea would find the end zone late in the third quarter coming off of a Kapa‘a turnover. Quarterback Dennis Rull Jr. connected with Hazzard McDougall on a 41-yard touchdown strike, which would put the score at 21-10.
Rull would finish with an impressive 120-yards through the air with the one touchdown. McDougall finished with 64-yards receiving and Derek Callejo added 57 yards in receiving of his own.
To go along with the passing attack Destin Miguel finished with a team high 51-yards rushing.
The Waimea defense was led by Nohili Kahepu‘u, who led with a team high of eight tackles. Callejo also added an interception to his stat line as well.
The Warriors receivers had a nice day with Sonoda finishing with 71-yards receiving and Hicks-Whetsel added 75-yards.
The Warrior defensive unit was anchored by Austyn Carvalho-Toloai, who had eight tackles and two sacks. Dustyn De Silva and Una Masaniai both added seven tackles of their own.
Derek Yamane and Daniel Alonzo both contributed in the defensive back field with interceptions.
The finale would see Kapa‘a finish with a 3-3 record and the Menehune would finish with a 1-5 record both trailing the KIF champion Red Raiders (5-1).
