HANAPEPE — Special teams and defense pushed the Lihue Raiders, Junior PeeWee division, to a 9-6 edge over the Koloa Rams on Saturday during the Kauai Pop Warner Football League games at Hanapepe Stadium.
Zayden Asuncion pushed the Rams to a 6-0 edge over the Raiders at the break when Asuncion found paydirt at the end of a two-yard charge,. The point-after failed.
The JPW Raiders answered out of the locker rooms when Sonny Thomas put Lihue on the scoreboards with a 46-yard punt return for touchdown. Pahoa Itamura added the go-ahead score with a PAT run.
But the Raiders were not done as the defense churned up two points after dropping the Koloa ball carrier in the end zone for the 9-6 Lihue edge.
Earlier in the day, the Lihue Raiders Mighty Mites were shut down by the Hanapepe Colts, 6-0, when Kaina Henderson found the end zone following a 68-yard touchdown run.
The Lihue Raiders bounced back when its Flag Football team capped a 32-12 win over the Kapaa Eagles.
During the 7:30 a.m. opener, the Hanapepe Colts were four points better than the Kekaha Titans, 30-26, in the second Flag Football matchup of the day.
In the JPW matchup, the Kekaha Titans’ Ray Wilson plucked a Colt aerial and ran the intercepted pigskin back 21 yards in the second half to lead Kekaha to an 8-0 win over Hanapepe. Dayton Shigematsu booted the PAT for the final math.
Kapaa Eagles’ Mighty Mite division’s Axten DeRego peeled off two long touchdowns to lead Kapaa to a 12-0 win over the Kekaha Tians.
In the first half, DeRego pulled in a Pa‘a Troche touchdown pass for 86 yards. In the second half, DeRego broke out for an 80-yard score in the win.
The Kauai Pop Warner Football League games continue Saturday with a day filled with matches starting at 7:30 a.m. at Hanapepe Stadium.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
