Kaua‘i hammers Kapa‘a

Raiders corral loose pigskins for 51-6 win

by Dennis Fujimoto – The Garden Island

Kaua‘i quarterback Andrew Renaud threw for four touchdowns in the first half and Kaua‘i never looked back, handling Kapa‘a easily Friday night 51-6.

With 6:50 left in the game, Kapa‘a prevented a shutout by capping a long drive when Daniel Lizama dragged a pile of defenders four yards for a touchdown. Lizama took a series of hand-offs and passes from quarterback Coty Salausa on the drive.

Unfortunately for Kapa‘a, the game was over long before that.

Three Warrior fumbles in the first quarter led to a 27-0 deficit after 15 minutes.

The Warriors fumbled the opening kickoff and Chad Koga’s recovery set up a 29-yard Renaud to Jonathan Gebauer touchdown pass at the 11:11 mark.

Brendan Young scored less than four minutes later after another Kapa‘a fumble.

The Warriors managed to hang onto the ball long enough to punt on their next drive, but a short punt gave Kaua‘i the pigskin on Kapa‘a’s 22 yard line. Renaud hit Tyrus Ceria-Lux at the 6:23 mark for a 20-0 lead.

Kupa Graycochea recovered the third fumble of the period to set up Pono Matthews’ 14-yard score. Kainoa Lemke’s third PAT in four attempts brought the score to 27-0.

Renaud connected with Gebauer again and then Skyler Ramson for two more touchdowns for a 41-0 half-time lead.

The quarterback sat the second half, but backup Blake Gingrich filled in admirably, hitting Micah Alayvilla for a six-yard touchdown. Coupled with an earlier Lemke field goal, the Kaua‘i offense was done scoring for the night.

The defense, however, was not.

With Kapa‘a threatening on the next series, Pono Matthews picked off a Shea Alapai pass and ran it back 42 yards for a touchdown.

With the win, Kaua‘i improves to 2-0 in the standings followed by Waimea (1-1) and Kapa‘a (0-2).

Kapa‘a hosts Waimea this Saturday.