LIHUE — Kapaa High School quarterback Kahanu Davis capturing the Kauai Interscholastic Federation title with a 31-19 victory over Waimea High School Saturday afternoon Vidinha Stadium was only one piece of the team’s quest for an off-island title.
Still, Davis decided to admit winning the KIF crown has a nice ring to it.
“Our focus was on winning the KIF, and now we can focus on the playoffs, and seeding, and getting ready for other teams,” Davis said. “I am very proud of my team, and we took care of business.”
Davis and Kapaa running back Baba Na-O controlled the flow of the middle of the field, in a game that is primarily played on the perimeter of the area, and the strategy of running behind the Warriors’ sizeable offensive line rendered effective throughout the game, and opened up Kapaa’s passing attack.
For the majority of the football game, the Warriors (5-0), overpowered the Menehune’s defensive line en route to building a 31-7 lead throughout the game.
In the third quarter, Kapaa began twisting the tide of momentum in their favor when Cody Relacion scored with 5:51 remaining in the fourth that gave the Warriors a commanding 25-0 lead with 5:51 left in the fourth quarter.
During the fourth quarter, momentum abruptly transitioned in the Menehune’s favor, when Kawelo Huddy took the ball the distance for a kickoff return resulting in a touchdown with 5:38 left in the game.
This led to two Waimea touchdowns in the latter part of the fourth quarter, which made Menehune’s head football coach Jason Caldeira proud of his team’s efforts.
“They just kept fighting and kept striving and pushing for good things to happen,” Caldeira said. “They played until the last second, and at least we got ourselves back in the game. I was happy that we played until the last second and took back at this game, and we are somewhat proud of our team’s effort.”
Looking forward
Warriors’ coach Philip Rapozo accomplished his first step in the championship puzzle.
Before this game, Rapozo didn’t care to discuss anything but what was in front of his team at the moment: a KIF championship crown.
Now Rapozo and his team can focus on improving their game to get ready for the off-island teams that will await them.
“We want to get ready for the playoffs, and we want to come in hard and get a win,” Rapozo said. “We know Kauai High had some struggles earlier in the season, and we just have to concentrate on getting guys healthy, and once we are done, and we can get ready for the postseason.”
Rapozo acknowledged his assistant coaches in the victory, as the Warriors won five out of the last six conference titles.
“We want to come hard and get a win, and they had some struggles, and we keep concentrating on keeping our guys healthy,” Rapozo said. “I am proud of all my guys, and we couldn’t have won it without the help of our assistant coaches.”
Entering the game, the Menehunes knew they had to stop the backfield tandem of Davis, and Baba Na-O, who were entering the competition, had accounted for a total of six touchdowns rushing.
Still, Caldeira credited Kapaa’s execution for the critical victory. With the loss, the Menehune will now be eliminated for contention to win the KIF, or be in the KIF championship.
“They were well-coached, and they were good athletes that grew up in that system, and they were running well, and executed well, and came out there with some confidence,” Caldeira said. “They came out here with a lot of confidence, and they were a tough team to beat, and they played error-free, and we came close to beating them in the end, but we shot ourselves in the foot, and you can’t do that against a team like Kapaa.”
Moving on
Kapaa quarterback Kahuna Davis was injured in the second half of the game, though the nature of his injury is not known as of press time.
