honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 4:49 p.m., Saturday, September 1, 2007

Preps: Lunas improve to 2-0; Kekaulike, KS-Maui fall

By Robert Collias and Tom Sepulveda
The Maui News

WAILUKU — The bad news for the Lahainaluna High School football team was the placekicking.

The good news was just about everything else.

The Lunas failed on all five of their extra-point attempts, but otherwise rolled to a 30-7 nonleague win over Bonita Vista of Chula Vista, Calif., last night in front of about 1,500 fans at War Memorial Stadium.

Like last week when they bolted to a 21-0 lead before Waiakea touched the football offensively, the Lunas (2-0) started quickly again against the Barons, who play in the Mesa League and have a student body of about 2,000.

"I have got to look at the film, but both sides played hard, good hard football,'' Lahainaluna coach Bobby Watson said to The Maui News. "We got everybody in, but we have got to look at the film to know just how it went.''

The Lunas kicked off to open the game, but as they did the first two times last week, they kicked onside and recovered at their own 48-yard line. Lake Casco then carried twice on a 52-yard, four-play drive, the final time on a 37-yard touchdown run.

The misdirection play went to the right side through the line of scrimmage, and Casco made a couple of moves and broke two tackles on the way to the end zone. A bad snap on the PAT — a recurring theme on this night — forced holder Blaise Smith to run, but he was quickly brought down.

On PATs, the Lunas had two bad snaps, a block and two that were short.

"A lot of troubles in the kicking game,'' Watson said. "We have got to look at that. We have got to check our blocking and things like that.''

Still, Watson said that things are going OK on the west side. The Lunas open Maui Interscholastic League play Sept. 14 at War Memorial against Kamehameha-Maui.

"We are slowly improving, slowly improving,'' Watson said. "We have a lot more to work on, but it is slowly improving.''

On the Barons' first play from scrimmage, running back Christian Mua was rocked and Simione Vehikite recovered a fumble for the Lunas on the Bonita Vista 28.

A five-yard penalty moved Lahainaluna back, but on first-and-15, quarterback Jake Manning ran an option play untouched to the end zone from 33 yards out. This time the kick was blocked, but the score was still 12-0 just 2 minutes, 14 seconds into the game.

Late in the quarter, Casco was back at it. He intercepted a Myles Morales pass and raced 45 yards for a touchdown with 25 seconds left.

Casco has scored three touchdowns this season — on a kickoff return, a rush, and an interception return.

The Lunas appeared to up the lead just before halftime when Vehikite, a defensive end, picked off a Morales pass and returned it 50 yards for an apparent touchdown. A clip behind the play nullified the score, however. Casco later missed a 28-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the first half.

On Lahainaluna's second possession of the second half, Bryson Williams capped a five-play, 59-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with 6:19 left in the third quarter. Manning, who finished with 89 yards on 12 carries, had a 37-yard option run on the series to the Bonita Vista 5.

The Barons, who were playing their first game, finally got on the scoreboard when Mua caught a 4-yard pass from backup quarterback Hector Castellanos with 2:03 left in the third.

The Barons were 5-6 overall last year and coach Carl Parrick was impressed with the Lunas.

"They have a good team and they are very well-coached,'' Parrick said. "We didn't know what to expect – he said they have a young team and we have a young team. We had no idea what to expect. Basically both teams came into this pretty blind, but Bobby Watson did a hell of a job. He is a real class guy. For us to come over here and lose, we just know we have to get better.

"I figured if we came over here and played well with a lot of heart we could win, but we didn't. That is basically what happened.''

El Capitan (Calif.) 51, King Kekaulike 36

King Kekaulike High School's football team nearly pulled off the upset.

Trailing 44-36 late in the fourth quarter last night against El Capitan (Calif.), Na Ali'i had the ball and momentum on their side.

A deep heave by King Kekaulike quarterback Corry Ross was intercepted at the El Capitan 12-yard line, however, and the game was effectively over.

Vaqueros quarterback Tanner Rust's 60-yard scoring run with 35 seconds remaining finished a six-touchdown night — five through the air – and put the final touches on his team's 51-36 victory at King Kekaulike Stadium in Pukalani, Maui.

King Kekaulike (0-2) amassed an impressive 312 rushing yards in the loss, led by Taylor Rodrigues' 61. Edrian Dela Cruz, Kawika Purdy, Mikey Douglas and Ross all scored on the ground, and five Na Alii players had at least 40 rushing yards in the game.

"We wanted to improve as a team, and tonight we did improve,'' Na Ali'i coach J.W. Kenton said. "We didn't come out on top, but I'm happy with the team's performance.''

San Diego Section second-team running back Ben Wilkins ran for 93 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, and Rust completed 13 of 22 passes for 293 yards and five touchdowns.

Still, King Kekaulike had an answer for almost every score, and racked up 22 points in the fourth quarter. Na Alii opened the quarter with a 4-yard touchdown run by Dela Cruz and got a 35-yard score from Purdy at the 7:30 mark to pull within 37-29. After Rust's fifth touchdown pass, Roy answered with a 3-yard throw to Makoa Aikala that made the score 44-36.

Roy finished 6-of-15 passing for 100 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He also ran for 51 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.

Keola Williams gained 59 yards on three carries, Douglas had 45 yards on eight rushes and Dela Cruz had 42 yards on 10 carries as Na Alii found its rhythm on the ground in the second half. King Kekaulike pounded out 230 yards on the ground after halftime.

"I give the team an 'A' for effort tonight,'' Kenton said.

Vaqueros senior receiver Tila Case caught seven passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns, and opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 92-yard punt return. Rust followed with his first touchdown pass as Na Ali'i fell behind 13-0 in the second quarter.

Valley Center (Calif.) 36, Kamehameha-Maui 0

Valley Center (Calif.) High School quarterback Tyler Bernard and receiver James Johnson put on an offensive show last night in a 36-0 win over Kamehameha Schools-Maui at Kanaiaupuni Stadium in Pukalani, Maui.

The duo teamed up for three touchdowns, and one near-touchdown, as the Jaguars posted 371 yards of offense while holding the Warriors to just 18.

Bernard completed seven of 11 passes for four touchdowns and 183 yards, 143 of which came on four passes to Johnson.

Warriors quarterback Eli Ferreira was 5-for-13 for 24 yards. Curtis Puli rushed for 18 yards on four carries, while Evan Garces caught two passes for 11 yards.

With 9 minutes, 46 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Johnson caught a 60-yard pass from Bernard to give the Jaguars the early lead. After their defense tacked on a safety, the two connected for another score, this time on a 9-yard pass with 3:20 left in the quarter.

Bernard tossed a 21-yard pass to Johnson for the lone touchdown of the second quarter. In the third, Johnson and Bernard hooked up for a 53-yard completion, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run for Justin Lawrence.

Lawrence led Valley Center with 101 rushing yards on 18 carries.

The Warriors (0-1), the only Maui Interscholastic League team to play just one preseason game this year, next open the MIL season at home against the Trojans, formerly known as Pac-3.

For more Maui news, click here.