KAPA‘A — Plenty of fans packed the stadium to witness Kapa‘a and Kaua‘i square off, as the two teams entered Saturday evening’s much-anticipated matchup tied for first place and hoping to gain the outright KIF lead. The game lived up
KAPA‘A — Plenty of fans packed the stadium to witness Kapa‘a and Kaua‘i square off, as the two teams entered Saturday evening’s much-anticipated matchup tied for first place and hoping to gain the outright KIF lead.
The game lived up to the hype it had created, with Darren Acoba making the biggest play of the night as the Red Raiders came away with a 14-13 victory, now one win away from an eighth consecutive KIF championship.
With Kaua‘i trailing 13-7 midway through the fourth quarter, Acoba caught a 3rd and 10 pass from Shea Shimabukuro on the left sideline, got away from two defenders, then showed his breakaway speed by outrunning the entire Warrior secondary for an 80-yard touchdown reception that changed the complexion of the game.
Shimabukuro’s extra point broke the tie and gave Kaua‘i the 14-13 lead with 7:24 to play.
“It’s good coaches going against good coaches, it’s good athletes going against good athletes and it was going to come down to something like this,” said Kaua‘i head coach Derek Borrero.
Now sitting at 4-1 in the regular season, Kaua‘i is a game up on Kapa‘a (3-2), with each team still to go up against Waimea (0-4) one more time.
Acoba’s only catch of the night came while Kaua‘i abandoned the Wishbone offense for the first time in the game, feeling it needed to change up its game plan.
“Let’s go to the (Run and Shoot) real quick,” Borrero said was the conversation on the sideline. “Let’s run a few plays, see what happens. Darren Acoba made a play. Normally we are looking for the 6 route, that 10-yard dig and we dump it off to Darren and his abilities just took over.”
After forcing two three and outs in the final six minutes, the Kapa‘a defense got its side one last shot at a victory, forcing a Kaua‘i punt with 90 seconds to play.
The punt ended up netting just 14 yards and the Warriors took over on the Raiders’ 46-yard line with 1:21 remaining.
Kicker Max Goode had already hit field goals of 41 and 30 yards, giving Kapa‘a hope that a third was possible.
On 4th and 5 at the 41, Kapa‘a’s Marshall Adkisson made the reception along the right sideline and managed to get out of bounds after an 11-yard gain, stopping the clock with 22.8 seconds left.
With no timeouts remaining, Kapa‘a lined up to pick up more yardage. Quarterback Brentten Rapozo scrambled left, did not find an open receiver and ended up being tackled at the line of scrimmage.
The Warriors immediately rushed their field-goal unit on the field as the final seconds ticked away. The snap was before the horn sounded, but it hit a Kapa‘a player running to his spot on the offensive line. The ball bounced loose on the field and the clock hit zero during the scrum for possession.
The Warriors showed their disappointment as the Raiders celebrated. Kapa‘a had been hoping to give its community its first shot at a league title since 1989.
The Kaua‘i sideline also saw its season flash before its eyes in those final 20 seconds of chaos.
“Are we actually going to do this?” was what Borrero said was going through his mind.
“We talked about persevering in the locker room,” he said. “We said this is what it’s going to come down to: perseverance, endurance, will we have enough energy to last this game? We know they are going to come at us.”
Kapa‘a took the opening kickoff and closed out a 56-yard drive with a 41-yard field goal from Goode. The drive included a 32-yard run from Waika Alapai, where the powerful back broke two tackles, switched his field and then followed Rapozo as his blocker down the right sideline.
Alapai was the top rusher on the night, finishing with 127 yards on 15 carries.
The 3-0 Kapa‘a lead appeared in jeopardy as Kaua‘i had a 13-play, 54-yard drive on its first possession, but ultimately missed a 32-yard field goal attempt.
The Raiders capitalized on the only Warrior turnover of the night after an Alapai muffed punt was recovered by Kaua‘i’s Jake Leake at the Kapa‘a 25.
Facing a 3rd and 13, Shimabukuro caught the Kapa‘a defense with a play-action pass, finding a wide open Austin Oshiro right down the middle of the field for a 28-yard touchdown.
The score put the Raiders up 7-3 with 7:59 to play in the second quarter.
Kapa‘a answered immediately, with Alapai breaking off a 52-yard run to the Kaua‘i 23. Chaz Dabin took a 10-yard run to set up 1st and Goal on the Kaua‘i 7.
The Raiders held the Warriors for three plays and Kapa‘a elected to go for it on 4th and Goal at the 5.
After a play-action fake, Rapozo rolled right and hit Darren Taylor at the front right pylon to give the Warriors a 10-7 lead with 4:40 remaining in the second quarter.
That score held until Kapa‘a added a 30-yard field goal early in the fourth. Adkisson prolonged the drive by converting a 3rd and 17 with a 19-yard reception to the Kaua‘i 17.
Down 13-7, Acoba scored the decisive touchdown on the ensuing possession.
He ended the game with 12 carries for 30 yards and the one touchdown grab for 80 yards.
Shimabukuro was 3 for 7 for 124 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Leake got the bulk of the carries, running 17 times for 66 yards. He also added a 16-yard reception.
Oshiro’s lone catch was the 28-yard score.
Michael Kahoekapu-Cruz had three sacks for the Raiders, as Christopher Hau also had one on Rapozo.
The Kapa‘a quarterback finished the day 11 of 17 for 80 yards and a touchdown.
Adkisson was his main target, hauling in four passes for 42 yards.
Taylor had three catches for 32 yards and a touchdown.
Jonathan Papagayo brought in an interception for Kapa‘a, coming down with a Shimabukuro pass in the Warriors’ end zone.
John Das also had a pick of Shimabukuro, putting an end to Kaua‘i’s first possession of the second half.
Borrero singled out the play of Kapa‘a defensive lineman Aaron Baltazar, saying that he was responsible for Kaua‘i switching to the Run and Shoot.
“It was obvious, we couldn’t get to 44,” he said. “If you need a player of the game, it’s Kapa‘a 44. He just stuffed it, our center could not get to him.”
Also making plays all game for the Kapa‘a defense were Kevin Cremer, Treston Brede, Kaulana Kaui and Weston Moniz.
The Raiders are off this week before playing the Menehune in the season finale on Oct. 30. Coming off such an emotional win can sometimes make it difficult for a team to stay focused, but Borrero is optimistic his team is in the right frame of mind.
“I’m glad we are going to go into this game emotional, like the way we are right now,” he said. “It’s going to be a fun weekend. I know practices are going to be great, it’s going to be easier to coach, their eyes and ears are going to be wide open.”
He expects to mix up the offense and work in more of a passing game to go with the run style that was so effective in last week’s 33-14 win.
“We started the season in (Run and Shoot), added in (Wishbone) and we’re going to end the final game just mixing it up, which is good for the program,” he said. “It just makes us grow.”
