LIHU‘E — Waimea High scored five touchdowns in the second half Saturday to take a 48-6 win over visiting Kaimuki High during a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation preseason football game over the weekend.
The contest at Hanapepe Stadium, where Kaili Arakaki scored two of the three third-quarter touchdowns, was just one of two locations on Kaua‘i where football games were being waged last weekend.
On the road at Radford High on O‘ahu, Kapa‘a High, the defending KIF and state Division 2 champions, were victimized by Aiea High School, 41-17.
Vidinha Stadium was the site of two contests, a junior-varsity matchup with visiting Pearl City taking on Kaua‘i High and a varsity contest between the two teams.
During the only JV game on the island last weekend, the JV Red Raiders capitalized on early Pearl City turnovers and carried the team to a 51-6 victory, Kaua‘i High’s final score coming on a 3-yard charge to paydirt with 5:35 showing on the game clock.
As the sun began its descent, the varsity squads took the field, with Pearl City emerging victors, 33-22.
“I’m going to tell you something,” said Jason Apilado, the Kaua‘i High coach. “We might have suited up just 17 players against that wall of Pearl City. But these kids are tough, and they work hard. We’re just going to have to work on getting more substitutes available. We only have five to work with tonight.”
Over at the Hanapepe Stadium, Kaimuki struck first on its second possession when Bulldog signal-caller Iosefa Letuli found Jeremiah White at the end of a 43-yard scoring pass.
The point-after effort came up empty, and Waimea answered on the ensuing possession where special teams’ Kenny Okeiger returned the kickoff to midfield. He also pulled in a nice 3-yard pass from Menehune quarterback Kyka Linoz and followed it up with a 34-yard reception of a Linoz scoring pass.
Haveo Akeo did the PAT honors for the 7-6 go-ahead that stood until the waning minutes leading to halftime, when Linoz found Akeo at the end of a 1-yard scoring pass for the 14-6 bulge at the break.
Kaili Arakaki heralded the Menehune with an interception to open the second half. He graced the third quarter with two of the three Waimea scores, a 21-yarder on the ground to cap the interception, and a 44-yard breakout with 3:47 showing.
With less than a minute showing on the period, Aukai Emayo found the end zone at the end of a 37-yard run. Akeo did the PAT honors to close the period with a 35-6 Menehune lead.
Waimea added two more scores in the fourth quarter, an Okeigar breakout for 46 yards and a one-yard plunge by Brennen Fernandez for the 48-6 final.
This sets up the contests for Saturday, when Kapa‘a hosts Honolulu powerhouse St. Louis at a 1 p.m. kickoff at the Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste Sports Complex in Kapa‘a.
Kaua‘i High will host Baldwin High School at a 4:30 p.m. kickoff at Vidinha Stadium, and Waimea travels to Maui for a contest against King Kekaulike.
The first regular-season contest will see Kapa‘a traveling to Vidinha Stadium to meet Kaua‘i High on Aug. 27. The JV game will kick off at 1:30 p.m. followed by the varsity contest starting 30 minutes following the completion of the JV contest.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
