LIHU‘E — As the afternoon turned to evening and the shadows crept toward the edges of the field, the Waimea Menehune gave quite a scare to the Kaua‘i Red Raiders in Saturday’s Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation finale at Vidinha Stadium. Feeling
LIHU‘E — As the afternoon turned to evening and the shadows crept toward the edges of the field, the Waimea Menehune gave quite a scare to the Kaua‘i Red Raiders in Saturday’s Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation finale at Vidinha Stadium.
Feeling comfortable with a 24-0 halftime lead, Kaua‘i all of a sudden found itself needing a defensive stop in the closing minutes to assure a victory. It was a stop it ultimately managed to attain as Kaua‘i (7-1, 5-1 KIF) closed the regular season with a 24-16 win over Waimea (2-6, 1-5).
Raiders running back Jake Leake was named Player of the Game, carrying 14 times for 129 yards and a touchdown.
Having stymied the Waimea offense for more than 40 minutes, Kaua‘i watched the Menehune score 16 points in under two minutes of action to make it a one-possession game. The Raiders then saw the Menehune move the ball to their end of the field with less than 90 seconds remaining, but forced an incomplete pass on 4th and 3 to put the game to bed.
“The win (Waimea) had off of Kapa‘a last week, two things happened,” Kaua‘i head coach Derek Borrero said about the Menehune after the game. “One, their offensive play, using those tight ends, the beautiful play action fooled us again. And we watched film on that over and over again.
“And two, the energy they brought to this field, they wanted it big time and we knew that they were going to come here and play us like this.”
Borrero said that moving forward into the playoffs, his team is going to have to play two halves instead of just one, or else it will be a short postseason.
All the Kaua‘i damage was done in the first half as the team, in what was a meaningless game to the standings, came out with passion and desire for its Homecoming crowd.
The defense did not give up a first down on Waimea’s first two offensive series and the Raider offense got going on its second possession, though a Waimea mistake prolonged the drive.
On a 4th and 4, the Menehune jumped offsides on what would have been a punt, giving the Raiders a first down at the Waimea 42. Kaua‘i moved the ball on the ground to the Waimea 14 and Travis Koga finished the drive with three straight runs, plowing in from the 1-yard line for the initial score.
The touchdown gave Kaua‘i a 7-0 lead with 1:36 to play in the opening quarter.
The Raiders forced another three and out, getting the ball back in good field position at their own 47.
After a holding penalty and a sack by Waimea’s Bronson Fune put them in a 2nd and 20 hole, the Raiders dialed up a big play as Leake ran off right tackle and got a great block from Koga, which sprung him back to the middle of the field and down the left sideline for a 41-yard touchdown run. Shea Shimabukuro was good on his second extra point for a 14-0 lead with 8:11 to go in the second quarter.
Late in the second, Kaua‘i forced a Waimea punt after a quick series and saw the long snapper sail the ball over the punter’s head, giving the Raiders a first down at the Waimea 7-yard line.
On 2nd and Goal, Darren Acoba took a handoff to the left edge and strung out the play to the corner for a seven-yard touchdown run and a 21-0 lead with 1:20 in the half.
A couple incomplete passes and a sack got Kaua‘i the ball back quickly and the Raiders took over on the Waimea 43 with 21 seconds on the clock.
Shimabukuro picked up 10 yards on the ground, but followed it up with a three-yard loss, leaving the Raiders at the 36 with just eight seconds in the half.
Kaua‘i decided to give its kicker a shot and Shimabukuro lined up a 53-yard field goal. The kick got up in the air and began carrying towards the goal post, continuing to stay afloat just enough to pass through the uprights and set a new KIF record.
The Raider sideline exploded in celebration of the huge boot and ran into the locker room with all the momentum and a 24-0 edge.
“He’s hit a 52, 53-yarders in practice and he’s got a good leg,” Borrero said. “Not to brag about the boy, but he got a little bit under it. He probably hit it about 95 percent and we had the wind, we had the wind coming into the stadium and it was a good opportunity to give it a shot. So that’s nice that his name gets to go in that book.”
The second half was a different story as Waimea took its first drive from its own 42-yard line and marched down the field, converting a 3rd and 6 with an 8-yard grab by Fune to set up a 1st and Goal at the 8.
The Menehune got close and had a 4th and Goal at the 1, but the Raiders stopped a Devan Banasihan-Kenney dive just inches shy of the goal line to take over on downs.
Backed up in its own territory, Kaua‘i gave the ball right back when a fumbled snap was pounced on by a Waimea defender.
Yet Waimea was again unable to capitalize, when its 1st and Goal pass from the 9-yard line was intercepted by Kaimana Wilson in the end zone, the defensive back holding on to the ball after taking a huge hit from his own teammate.
With just under seven minutes remaining in the game, Waimea finally got on the board when quarterback Jae Delos Reyes threw a dart down the field to Clifton Callejo, the speedy wide receiver doing the rest on his way to a 66-yard touchdown grab.
Alika Emayo then hit Delos Reyes with a pass for a successful two-point conversion to make it a 24-8 margin with 6:33 to play.
Waimea lined up for and successfully recovered an onside kick to get the ball right back to its offense. Delos Reyes hit Vinda Carineo with passes of 26 and 21 yards to set up first down at the Kaua‘i 15. He then executed a perfect play action and found a wide open Kyle Fleming for another score.
The ensuing two-point attempt was again successful as Delos Reyes hit Banasihan-Kenney to make it a one-possession game at 24-16 with 4:46 remaining. That made five straight two-point conversions Waimea has successfully converted over the past two weeks.
Kaua‘i went three and out, punting the ball to Waimea and watching returner Jonathon Tangalin field the ball at his own 15, make a series of players miss and head down the left sideline for what would have been an 85-yard touchdown return. The play was called back with offsetting penalties — a block in the back by Waimea and a personal foul on Kaua‘i — prompting another Raider punt.
With 2:09 to play, Waimea took over on its own 31. Completions to Fleming and Emayo put the Menehune at the Raider 46, but they would not move any further as the Kaua‘i defense held on to preserve the victory.
Delos Reyes ended the night 10 for 21 passing for 161 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Emayo struggled on the ground for much of the night, ending up with 45 yards on 15 carries.
Carineo had three catches for 48 yards, while Fleming finished with three catches for 32 yards and a score. Banasihan-Kenney had five carries for 18 yards.
Acoba had 14 carries for 37 yards and a touchdown for the Raiders, while Austin Motooka ran hard in the second half, finishing with seven carries for 25 yards. Keoki Pantorilla chipped in three carries for 17 yards.
Borrero expressed that he is most proud of the way the Raiders have not given up all season long. He credited his coaches for being able to keep them mentally tough and coming a long way from what were some difficult spring practice sessions — one of which Borrero said he walked out of 20 minutes early because he didn’t like what he was seeing from his team.
“We knew that we could compete this year,” he said. “We didn’t know if we were going to come out on top, but we knew we had enough athletes to fight… I’m really proud that we were able to endure, persevere and just come out on top.”
Kaua‘i, as KIF champions, will likely play a Div. II quarterfinal game on Nov. 13. Details on the time and location of the game have not yet been made official.
