Castle advances in state football by beating HPA

By Leila Wai
Special to the Advertiser

Castle took advantage of its opportunities and turned to its defense to deny Hawai'i Prep in posting a 35-0 victory last night at Aloha Stadium.

Castle's Jared Suzui eludes Hawai'i Prep defenders Zach Say (4) and Mike Vitousek (40) en route to a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown on the final play of the third quarter. Suzui's score helped put the Knights ahead 21-0. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"They had great defense," Hawai'i Prep coach Tom Goodspeed said of the Knights. "They hustle hard to the ball. They were shutting down our run; they did a good job."

Castle's shutout performance followed a 25-0 blanking of Kailua in last week's O'ahu Interscholastic Association championship game.

Hawai'i Prep, the Big Island champion, had trouble spreading its offense, and even more trouble holding on to the ball. It fumbled nine times, losing two of them.

The Knights amassed 318 total yards, including 189 through the air. Starting quarterback Jacob Ramos, who left the game in the fourth quarter after re-aggravating a shoulder injury, completed 14 passes for 166 yards. He passed for one score in leading Castle's hurry-up offense.

"We try to get an advantage with it, hopefully it will limit the defensive calls that can come in," Castle coach Nelson Maeda said about the up-tempo offense. "We are very comfortable using that mode of offense; like HPA we take great pride in our conditioning also, so we try to lengthen the game and give our offense more opportunities on the field."

Castle scored two plays into the second quarter on a 13-yard pass from Ramos to Ikaika Ho. Ethan Gonsalves' PAT made it 7-0.

The score was set up by a fumble recovery and a 26-yard pass from Ramos to Jared Suzui, who broke three tackles before being stopped on the HPA 26.

Ramos scored on a 14-yard scramble with 3:55 left in the quarter, but a two-point conversion failed, making it 13-0.

"Surprisingly our offense could move the ball this game," Ramos said. "I think this week we concentrated more on offense. We just went out and tried to move the ball and keep their offense off the field. I guess it is a much-deserved victory.

"It is overwhelming."

A resurgent Hawai'i Prep started the second half with a drive that covered 82 yards and took 8 minutes, 1 second. But the drive, which lasted 16 plays, stalled at the Castle 8 and resulted in a missed field-goal attempt.

"That was a big swing," Maeda said. "At that point it was 13-0 and they did take a chunk of time off. If they had scored it would have been 13-7 and it would have been a whole different ball game. As it turned out, we scored and then it became 21-0, and that is a huge swing. It was a great defensive stance."

It became 21-0 when Suzui returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the third quarter. Suzui fielded a 44-yard kick by Ed Shah on the right side of the field and made his way to the left side, aided by several blocks. Ramos ran for the two-point conversion.

Ramos was lifted in the fourth quarter, but he said he had played almost the entire season with the shoulder injury and would be OK for next week's game.

His backup, Louis Mansanas Jr., scored the fourth touchdown with 7:29 to play on a 6-yard run.

Ernesto Lopez intercepted a Patrick Blasdell pass 23 seconds later and returned the ball 44 yards for the Knights' final score. Gonsalves' PAT made it 35-0.

The mercy rule, using a running clock, went into effect after that touchdown.

Hawai'i Prep, hounded all game long by Castle's defense, had trouble getting its offense going. Ka Makani's first-half possessions consisted of four punts, and two fumbles.

HPA's lone bright spot was senior running back Brad Lau, who rushed for 137 yards on 27 carries. Overall, Ka Makani managed a net of 112 rushing yards on 45 carries.

Castle linebacker Cory Daniel had 13 tackles, including seven solo. Senior Kaleo Cordero came up with two key stops on Lau, on open-field tackles.

"They say defenses win championships, and our defense takes great pride in who they are and what they do," Maeda said. "Defense did an outstanding job, especially against a runner like Lau. He's a hard-nosed runner."

Hawai'i Prep's leading tackler was Mike Vitousek with five tackles — all solo.

Each team had three sacks.

Blasdell completed four passes for 71 yards, including a long of 42 to senior wide receiver Kyle Lee.

Eight of Ka Makani's nine fumbles came on center snaps and two were recovered by Castle. One fumble recovery led to the Knights' first touchdown. One punt, which wet for a minus seven yards, set up the second score.

Castle fumbled the ball three times, and Maeda credited the number of fumbles by both teams to a new, slippery ball.

While Ka Makani had trouble controlling the ball, the Knights had a hard time controlling their emotions. They had 12 penalties — five personal fouls — for 129 yards.

"The penalties were a big factor in the game," Maeda said. "It kind of took the edge off our defense, and it hurt us, really. We had about four or five personal fouls, with things that we hadn't had called against us during the regular season. We just need to get back and find out how we can work with that."

Hawai'i Prep was making its first appearance in the state tournament.

"First of all, it is awesome to be here," Goodspeed said. "We know how hard it is and what it takes to get here. Secondly, we now have experience playing on the big stage. We were a little like deer in the headlights for a while."

Maeda saw the potential of Ka Makani.

"They are a good ball club," he said. "Look at their roster and they have 17 or 18 freshmen and sophomores. They already won the championship this year, and they are going to be even better next year. It is a great program."

Hawai'i Prep 0 0 0 0— 0
Castle 0 13 8 14—35

CAST-—Ikaika Ho 13 pass from Jacob Ramos (Ethan Gonsalves kick)

CAST-—Ramos 14 run (run failed)

CAST-—Jared Suzui 74 punt return (Ramos run)

CAST-—Louis Mansanas 6 run (Gonsalves kick)

CAST-—Ernesto Lopez 44 interception return (Gonsalves kick)

RUSHING--Hawai'i Prep: Brad Lau 27-137, Carl Lam 0-1 (fumble), Leighton Hind IV 2-0, Patrick Blasdell 16-(minus 26). Castle: Kawika Sebay 8-79, Jacob Ramos 9-36, Emil Kruse 1-6, Louis Mansanas 1-6, Elde Agcaoili 1-2.

PASSING--Hawai'i Prep: Blasdell 4-15-1--71. Castle: Ramos 14-22-1--166, Mansanas 2-3-0--23.

RECEIVING--Hawai'i Prep: Kyle Lee 1-42, Carl Lam 2-23, Scott Paulson 1-6. Castle: Ho 5-67, Suzui 5-66, Kawika Sebay 4-41, Blaze Soares 1-8, Gonsalves 1-7.

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