LIHU‘E — Late in the fourth quarter, it appeared Saturday would be the day Kaua‘i’s KIF win streak was to come to an end. Then Kele Hanohano put the finishing touch on another huge day to keep the Raiders unbeaten
LIHU‘E — Late in the fourth quarter, it appeared Saturday would be the day Kaua‘i’s KIF win streak was to come to an end.
Then Kele Hanohano put the finishing touch on another huge day to keep the Raiders unbeaten against a very game and determined Waimea Menehune ballclub.
On 4th and 2 and trailing by a single point, the running back took the hand-off to the right, then busted up the middle and outran the Waimea secondary to paydirt with 3:52 left in the contest.
Caitlyn Rapozo’s extra point made it a 14-8 score, which would hold up for the final tally at Vidinha Stadium.
The decisive play came after the Raiders got themselves organized on the sideline, facing the critical down.
“They looked a little tired, so I called that last timeout to water the hogs,” Kaua‘i head coach Derek Borrero said after the game about his own offensive unit. “We needed a first down to maintain the drive and then Kele popped it.”
Hanohano, the main cog in the Raiders’ offense to this point in the season, put together 163 yards rushing on 29 carries and both Kaua‘i touchdowns.
“We don’t have the strong passing game, but we’ve got Kele who can run the ball and something is going to happen sooner or later,” Borrero said. “But this game, with six minutes left in the fourth quarter, was Waimea’s.”
The Menehune took control of the scoreboard after a Keoni Ana interception of a Shea Shimabukuro pass. The defensive back got in front of the target in the middle of the field and gave his offense the ball on the Kaua‘i 38-yard line.
It took just one play for Waimea to score its first points of the KIF season, as Alika Emayo broke two tackles on the right side, cut back to the middle of the field and received a final block from quarterback Jae Delos Reyes on his way to the score.
With a dicey kicking game to this point, the Menehune elected to go for the two-point conversion and took an 8-7 lead when Delos Reyes found Derrin Peleras-Costa in the back of the end zone.
Emayo finished the afternoon with 23 carries for 113 rush yards.
The junior running back’s second-biggest carry of the day actually resulted in the game’s biggest momentum shift.
Leading 8-7 and having gotten the ball at the Kaua‘i 26-yard line, thanks to the special teams pressure from Esaias Mose on a Raider punt, Waimea completed two straight passes and had 1st and Goal at the 8-yard line.
Facing 4th down and just a yard from the goal line, Waimea kept the offense on the field and ran a toss play outside to Emayo. The Raiders sniffed it out early and swarmed the back for a three-yard loss and a turnover on downs.
They then put together a 13-play, 96-yard drive for the winning score, which included three Shimabukuro carries for 36 yards prior to Hanohano’s game winner.
“We can endure, we’ve learned to endure,” Borrero said. “But we’re enduring off of something self-inflicted. The turnovers, the interceptions, the slow play, not executing, it’s going to kill us.”
Shimabukuro threw three interceptions, two of them going to Ana and the third picked off by Paul Oligo. Hanohano also lost one fumble late in the second quarter, a result of another big hit from Esaias Mose and a recovery by Joey Bagain.
Waimea turned it over just one time, a late interception thrown by Delos Reyes that was picked by Arjay Hanorato.
The Menehune found some success in the passing game in the second half, Delos Reyes going 5 for 6 for 46 yards after intermission.
Borrero said he knew that Waimea can set up the passing game with its determined running style.
“If you’re not playing your assignment correctly, that outside linebacker not getting out in that passing game, that’s what is going to happen,” he said. “With that play action, we’ve got the outside linebacker dipping his nose into that run game and then bingo, the ball’s thrown right away.”
Peleras-Costa, Clifton Callejo and Bronson Fune each caught two balls for Waimea, while tight end Kyle Fleming caught one pass after being the main target for the Menehune in a 7-0 loss to Kapa‘a on Sept. 11.
Shimabukuro was 6 for 13 passing for 55 yards and the three interceptions.
After a scoreless first half, Kaua‘i finally broke through on the first possession of the second half, going 78 yards on 11 plays, capped off by a one-yard Hanohano plunge for a touchdown. He had seven carries for 48 yards on the drive, while wearing a No. 1 jersey, switching out of his typical No. 25 that he wore in the first half.
Kaua‘i’s Travis Koga led the Raiders’ defensive unit with 10 tackles, while Kaimana Wilson and Christopher Hau each recorded a sack. Koga blew up a number of run plays in the backfield to stifle the Waimea run game.
Waimea did not record a sack, but Esaias Mose and Keone Mattos were its top tacklers at the point of attack, along with Jake Corona, Fleming and Jonathon Tangalin in the secondary.
Raider defensive lineman Daylin Huni left the game in the third quarter, injuring his knee that had already seen some damage last season.
Coach Borrero said it appears it will keep the senior on the sidelines for an extended period of time.
“Daylin’s probably going to be (out) a month,” he said. “His knee doesn’t look too good right now, it’s kind of shaking around in there.”
The Raiders (4-0, 2-0) will be back in their friendly confines this Saturday as the Kapa‘a Warriors (3-1, 1-1) will head to Lihu‘e.
In Saturday’s junior varsity action, the Kaua‘i and Waimea JV units put on maybe the best four quarters of the KIF season so far, with Kaua‘i scoring a final-minute touchdown to pull off a 26-25 victory.
Photos and game story will appear in a future issue of The Garden Island.
