In a couple of preseason matchups Friday night, the Kauai Interscholastic Federation was 1-1.
Kauai High School defeated Maui, of the Maui Interscholastic League, while Waimea High School lost to Honokaa of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation.
Kauai (2-0) beat Maui on the road, 28-14, to go 2-0 in inter-league games.
“One thing we’ve taken away from this weekend, with this 28-14 win over a very disciplined school such as Maui, it basically came down to banding together as a team” Kauai head coach Jason Apilado said Saturday. “We were down, 7-0, early and made a bunch of mistakes in the first series. But these kids just banded together, stood up and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to get it together and go.’”
Red Raiders senior quarterback Tyler Oshima threw for three touchdowns against the Sabers — two in the second quarter.
“Tyler Oshima did a very great job. We went out there and called the plays. He was very disciplined,” Apilado said. “Made very critical decisions on who and how he was going to distribute the ball with our receiving corps … I can’t be more happy with this point of the season, only the second preseason game and leading into our first game of our (regular) season, this kid’s got a great head on his shoulders.”
In that second quarter, Oshima linked up with senior Logan Noice for a 14-yard scoring play, and then later on found senior Pono Carvalho for a 23-yard pass for a touchdown.
In the third quarter, Oshima found senior receiver Kona Asano for a 49-yard yard touchdown score.
Also in the third, Red Raiders senior rusher Kyle Bisarra had a 45-yard run to pay dirt.
Kauai iced its win with a 38-yard field goal by junior Kaylee Alapai in the fourth quarter.
The Red Raiders, though, were just 1-4 in extra point attempts.
“It’s kind of a unique and special deal. We’ve got a female kicker in Kaylee Alapai. She’s come a very long way from being a kicker in the JV days,” Apilado said. “For me as a coach, it’s preseason, so we’re testing our personnel and all that. I stuck to my guns and gave her the opportunities.”
“Yes, it is critical. The PAT conversion is critical,” he added. “But, it’s preseason. We’re looking at developing and mentoring. I wasn’t about to give up, so I continued to give her the shot. At practice, she’s shown a lot of promise with her kicks. … She came in with a three-pointer, a 38-yarder which she cashed in.”
Maui was first to score with a 30-yard pass from quarterback Brex Delray to receiver Christian Lee. The Sabers scored again in the third quarter with 20-yard pass from Delray to receiver Mitchell Hirose.
Waimea (0-1) were edged by Honokaa on the Big Island, 20-14, to open its 2018 campaign.
“We made a lot of mental errors. We committed four turnovers. We had a lot of jitters in the beginning,” said Waimea varsity head coach Jason Caldeira. “That really hurt us. Other than that, we had some positive areas. We had a lot of our younger guys step up. We made some big plays on special teams, but our execution on both sides of the ball needs to get better.”
The Menehune took an early 14-8 lead.
Waimea scored twice in the first quarter — the first on a one-yard run by junior Cory Soares and the other was scored on a 76-yard punt return by junior Makoa Vanaman.
But Honokaa evened the score at 14-14 in the second quarter on an eight-yard run by K. Gascon. The Dragons took the lead in the fourth quarter on a 17-yard run by M. Kanekoa.
“A lot of our younger guys got a notch under their belt. They stepped up and played hard,” Caldeira said. “A little first-game varsity jitters for them, I think, in the beginning. Just not lining up correctly, missed assignments and stuff, but they cleaned it up in the second half. Even with all those mistakes, we had a chance to win the game all the way to the last second, but we just fell short. We ended up throwing an interception in the end zone with nine seconds left.”
Honokaa was 1-3 in two-point conversion attempts.
Kauai High concluded its preseason Friday. Waimea will host Classical Academy, from Escondido, Calif., at 7 p.m. Friday at Hanapepe Stadium.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how we bounce back from a loss like that, and how we’re going to correct the little things,” Caldeira said. “Looking forward to seeing our demeanor in our approach before the game.”
Kapaa High School (0-1) played Saturday night at Konawaena High School, also of the BIIF. Result of that game was not available by press time.
Information from ScoringLive.
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Nick Celario, sports writer, can be reached at 245-0437 or ncelario@thegardenisland.com.
