Conner Chandler was on fire Saturday. After running for three touchdowns, Chandler capped his performance with a one-handed interception to lead the Kapa‘a Eagles to a 27-13 win over Lihu‘e. With the Maile Bowl victory, the Eagles PeeWee team clinched
Conner Chandler was on fire Saturday.
After running for three touchdowns, Chandler capped his performance with a one-handed interception to lead the Kapa‘a Eagles to a 27-13 win over Lihu‘e.
With the Maile Bowl victory, the Eagles PeeWee team clinched its possession of the PW championship. If the Patriots had won, the title would have been shared, but instead they were flung into the three-way bottleneck at second place.
Billed as the make-up game of a scheduled season game that was rained out earlier, the stands were filled with fans. Off to one side, the Kapa‘a Eagles, who have no PW cheer squad, had three of the JPW pepsters waving a sign and leading cheers in the stands.
Chandler ignited the team from the onset as he capped Kapa‘a’s first possession with a 55-yard romp to the end zone. Bronson Aiwohi’s point-after kick failed to give the Eagles a 6-0 lead with 6:36 remaining in the period.
But the Patriots did not disappoint the fans as Brian Haz gathered in the ensuing kickoff and gave the pigskin a 74-yard ride to the end zone.
Austin Oshiro rumbled in the point-after for the 7-6 Patriot lead that came just 14 seconds following Kapa‘a’s ice-breaker.
Chandler took the fourth-down gamble and came up a winner by adding to the Eagles’ tally on a 36-yard run at the 7:14 mark.
Kapa‘a had another scoring opportunity when Waika Alapai broke out for a 38-yard run into the end zone, but an Eagle infraction nullified the effort as the Eagles could not duplicate the feat as the buzzer sounded on a 12-7 Eagle edge.
Out of the locker rooms, Chandler reinspired the Eagles on a kickoff return to the end zone in the third quarter.
But a hard hit to the Patriot ball carrier sent the pigskin flying and when Kainalu Akiona snagged the ball that eluded Rajan Baliaris on the Lihu‘e 5-yard line, the lights dimmed in the Patriot camp.
Alapai did the scoring honors on a 1-yard push to the leftside with Aiwohi doing the point-after kick.
That score distanced the Eagles to a 26-7 margin with 6:37 left in the game.
But the Patriots kept punching the ball down the field against the clock that kept ticking down. Patriot quarterback Cameron Perez brought a spark to the Lihu‘e effort on a 26-yard aerial hit to Kaimana Wilson that settled the ball on the Eagles’ 4-yard line, setting the stage for Austin Oshiro’s push into the end zone.
Jensen Koga’s point-after efforts came up empty and Lihu‘e was chasing a 27-13 deficit with 3:08 showing.
Kapa‘a controlled the ensuing kickoff, but could not convert giving the Patriots one more shot at the ball, but Chandler quashed that spark as he pulled in a one-handed interception of a Perez pass with 2:10 left to kill the clock — and any hopes of more Lihu‘e scoring.
Both teams will be in action Saturday when the Kapa‘a association hosts the Hamakua Cougars starting at 8 a.m. at Hanapepe Stadium for the Mokihana Bowl.
The Lihu‘e association will be hosting the Westside Eagles starting at noon.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
