LIHU‘E — Kapa‘a High School’s Kala Velasco intercepted his second Waimea pass with 8:07 showing on the game clock on Saturday during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation football game at Vidinha Stadium.
The pass interception witnessed by the strong showing of fans wiping up following the passage of afternoon showers was settled on the Menehune 22-yard line to set up the final score in the defensive slugfest between the two teams who met for the second time since the resumption of high school football on Oct. 16.
Warrior Kaikea Tandal did the final yard honors following a grueling goal line stand by the Menehune, and the big No. 9 Solomone Malafu put the game out of reach, 15-0 on a charge through bodies for a two-point Point-After-Touchdown with 4:20 showing in the contest.
The Menehune responded, by its journey through the air was cut short when Warrior Keanu Ebesu plucked another Waimea pass on the Menehune 21-yard line with 1:46 showing to seal the deal.
Defense was the name of the game as both teams battered each other through a 0-0 halftime deadlock, the hard contacts being peppered with turnovers, including a Menehune fumble recovery by Cayden Artaho with 0:36 showing in the first quarter. The play was marred by an infraction against Waimea that pushed the ball back out to the Kapa‘a 35-yard line as the quarter ended.
The scoreless second period was opened with the Menehune in trouble deep near the end zone with huge Warriors charging in an attempt at scoring. Menehune quarterback Tresten Shigematsu connected with Damien Akita to finally give Waimea some breathing room on its own 20-yard stripe.
But the drive that saw Kapa‘a’s Masias Mersberg and Conner Kitamura sack Shigematsu went nowhere, and Kapa‘a took control only to have Waimea’s linebacker Nick Reyes pluck a Na-O airball with nine seconds in the half to keep the Warriors scoreless.
Kapa‘a finally found the end zone in the third quarter after Ebesu marked a good kickoff return to the Warriors’ 43-yard line to set up the drive that saw Jerico Castro break out to the Waimea 1-yard line. Na-O did the final yard honors with Velasco’s foot splitting the uprights for the 7-0 go-ahead with 1:26 showing in the period.
With the win, Kapa‘a gets a breather, Saturday when Waimea hosts Kaua‘i High School at Hanapepe Stadium. Starting at noon, the Kapa‘a Junior Varsity kicks off against Waimea JV, and the varsity Red Raider-Menehune contest starting 30 minutes following the completion of the JV game.
