HANAPEPE — The Kapaa Eagles Junior PeeWee and the Kekaha Titans Junior Varsity teams closed the Kauai Pop Warner Football League season with undefeated records following the final season matches Sunday at the Hanapepe Stadium.
Jahsiah Mauwe-Cabinatan scored a 20-yard touchdown, Kailen Henderson added a two-yard scoring charge and a point-after kick and Kaena Henderson pushed a seven-yard score in the quiet Hanapepe air to give the Hanapepe Colts Mighty Mites a 22-0 win over the Lihue Raiders.
The victory finishes the Colts’ season with a 7-1 record for the Mighty Mite title.
Earlier in the day, the Kapaa Eagles claimed a 39-0 shutout over the Lihue Raiders behind two touchdowns apiece from Nash Burkhart, who also ran in a PAT, and Nainoa Melchor who peeled off scores of 49 yards and 45 yards, respectively.
Nainoa Simmons pulled in a 15-yard scoring pass from Burkhart to light up the scoreboards and ran in a 20-yard score in the second half to trigger the running clock.
Braden Bermoy put the topping on the Eagles’ cake with a four-yard score, the play being enhanced by a PAT run-in by Eli Nokolas — his second PAT after pulling in a PAT pass from Melchor earlier in the first half.
During a second Junior PeeWee contest, Kekaha Titans’ Ikaika Miyashiro broke out for a 38-yard scoring run in the first half for the only score in Kekaha’s 6-0 win over the Hanapepe Colts, whose final hopes for a comeback was quashed when Kekaha’s Derek Ka‘amoana plucked a Colts’ pass with ten seconds showing on the game clock.
Kapaa Eagles also spoiled the hosting Titans’ Mighty Mite showing when the Eagles’ Alaka‘i Mundon pushed for 11 yards and 38 yards to the end zone for the 13-0 final. Pa‘a Troche ran in the point-after following Mundon’s first score for the final accounting.
The Kekaha Titans JV preserved its 6-0 season record by nailing two touchdowns in the second half against the Kapaa Eagles for a 32-12 victory in the day’s finale.
Johnny Pimental put Kekaha on the boards with a 25-yard touchdown, and Hawelu Akeo split the uprights on the PAT boot for the early 8-0 lead that was answered by the Eagles when Jacob Danley found the end zone at the end of a three-yard push.
But a failed PAT saw the Titans ahead, 8-6, before Aukai Emayo tapped pay dirt on a four-yard charge, the score being enhanced when Haweo Akeo booted the PAT — his first of three in the game.
The Eagles pushed back when Danley found Nash Ahloo on a 47-yard scoring pass, the PAT coming up empty for the 16-12 Kekaha bulge at the break.
Makenyah Okeigar opened the second half on a 53-yard kickoff return, Haweo doing the PAT boot, and the Titans closed the book on a one-yard touchdown from Kena Makua, Haweo nailing his third PAT kick for the 32-12 final math.
The Kauai Pop Warner Football League closes the door on its 2018 season Sunday when gates to the Vidinha Stadium open for the annual Shriners Bowl and the Harold Naumu Bowl, where proceeds from the day will be donated to the Shriners Hospital for Children whose care for orthopaedic and neuromusculoskeletal disorders and conditions to children in Hawaii and the Pacific Region. The Shriners Hospital accepts insurance and provides care regardless of the families’ ability to pay.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
