Kyren Rapacon ground out a touchdown and quarterback Trey Aguano engineered two scores as the Koloa Packers JPW ignited Saturday. The Packers hosted the undefeated Kealakehe Warlords JPW, the Big Island champions, at the Maile Bowl with the stakes being
Kyren Rapacon ground out a touchdown and quarterback Trey Aguano engineered two scores as the Koloa Packers JPW ignited Saturday.
The Packers hosted the undefeated Kealakehe Warlords JPW, the Big Island champions, at the Maile Bowl with the stakes being a trip to the national Pop Warner Superbowl in Florida.
Rapacon lit the fuse to the Packers with two touchdowns in the second period en route to a 21-0 shutout over the Warlords at Vidinha Stadium.
Wescon commissioner Edmund Acoba said this was the first of the Pop Warner teams that will be converging on Orlando for the national playoffs early next month.
The bleachers were packed and the air was filled with excitement as the first of three bowl games hosted by the Kaua‘i Pop Warner Association kicked off Saturday.
“This is more people than a normal game,” Zack Octavio, the Kaua‘i Island manager for American Medical Response, said. “But it’s a beautiful day for football.”
Though it wasn’t close in the end, it started out rough for Koloa.
Nalu Marks announced the Warlords’ defense early, plucking one of the team’s two interceptions in the first quarter.
The defensive stalemate continued until Koloa forged ahead and with 6:15 left in the half when Rapacon finally opened the scorebooks on a 19-yard scoot up the gut.
Just one play earlier, Rapacon sparked the crowd with a long gallop to the Warlords’ 6-yard line but that play was called back.
Aguano iced the touchdown with a long sweep right for the point-after and the 7-0 mark.
Overcoming injuries to Kealakehe’s Lennox Jones, the Warlords turned to Jack Austin for ground duty, but the Packer defense sparked by Vaughn Thompson frustrated the Warlords’ ground game.
Rapacon broke open on a 20-yard romp to settle the pigskin on the 2-yard hash and, from there, Aguano ran it in with 28 clicks left in the half.
Rapacon swept right for the point-after, barely eluding a shoestring tackle from Kealakehe’s Brandon Awa.
Leading 14-0 at the start of the third quarter, Aguano lit up the airways, first finding Kelson Andrade on a 3-yard scoring hit and then connecting with Kalawai‘a Judd on the point-after for the final math.
The Warlords managed a final period drive behind the ground gains of Lennox Jones and Jaylor Satta-Ellis, but their game fizzled when Kainoa Simao intercepted the Kealakehe pass inside the red zone.
This was a disappointing end for the Kealakehe visitors who had finished their season undefeated on the Big Island and arrived here to participate in their first Regional playoffs.
That set off the celebration as the players dunked their coach Corey Aguano with 17 seconds still showing on the game clock, and following the acceptance of the Regional trophy started chanting, “Mickey Mouse! Mickey Mouse!”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
