honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, December 4, 2009

Kamehameha rolls past Kahuku, 34-21, for state football title


By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Kamehameha's Ryan Ho scores a touchdown against Kahuku during the first half at the Aloha Stadium.

ANDREW SHIMABUKU | The Honolulu Advertiser

spacer spacer

T.C. Campbell passed for three touchdowns and Ryan Ho rushed for two and No. 2 Kamehameha knocked off No. 1 Kahuku, 34-21, tonight for the First Hawaiian Bank Division I state football championship.

An Aloha Stadium crowd of 21,661 watched the highest scoring title game with a combined 55 points, beating Kahuku 27-26 win against Saint Louis in 2003.
The Warriors (12-1) captured their first title since 2004. The Red Raiders (12-1) saw their perfect season end, leaving no undefeated teams in either division.
The Red Raiders stormed out of the second half with two quick touchdowns to pull to 20-14. Punga Vea caught a 27-yard TD pass from Evan Moe on Kahuku’s first series. Kahuku’s nine-play drive saw the Red Raiders make their first first down and cross midfield for the first time.
Kahuku scored on its next series on 36-yard TD run by fullback Fonoivasa Mataafa to make it 20-14.
But Kamehameha responded on its next series, moving 80 yards in 10 plays with Campbell hitting Bollig on 10-yard slant pass to the left to increase the Warriors’ lead to 27-14 with 31 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Warriors scored again, needing just five plays to move 76 yards, with Ho scoring on a 27-yard run to make it 34-14.
Kahuku scored late in the fourth quarter on a 16-yard TD pass from Moe to Vea to pull to 34-21.

All three phases — offense, defense, special teams — aided in the Warriors’ commanding 20-0 lead at the half.
The Warriors took the opening kickoff to their 29 and spent 12 plays in four minutes, 35 seconds before Campbell hit wideout Brent Auyong on a slant to the right for a 14-yard TD pass. Tarra Gabriel’s PAT made it 7-0 with 7:25 left in the first quarter.
Despite starting their next two series from the Kahuku 46 and 47 yard lines, the Warriors failed to score, losing the ball on downs on the first when Auyong couldn’t bring down a high five-yard pass from Campbell on fourth down and punting after three downs.
But the special teams came through on Kahuku’s next series. Punting from its 17, Bryson Burnett blocked Cameron Mercado’s punt and gave the Warriors possession at the Red Raiders’ 9. Three plays later, running back Ryan Ho took an option pitch from Campbell and battled his way into the end zone with 6:50 left in the half. Gabriel’s PAT made it 14-0.
Kamehameha’s defense, which limited the Red Raiders to 31 yards and no first downs in the half, pitched in the scoring after safety Wave Ryder intercepted an Evan Moe pass at midfield and returned inside the Red Raiders’ 20. A penalty against Kahuku during the play moved the ball to the Kahuku 8, where Campbell hit Charley Bollig IV for a TD pass with 5;43 left in the half. Gabriel missed the PAT, but the Warriors owned a 20-0 lead.
The Warriors threatened again late in the half, but Tigi Hill’s second intercepiton of the game off Campbell kept the Red Raiders from falling farther behind.