Paleku Yasay went 115 yards on 17 carries, with two touchdowns and Kaua‘i High School spoiled Serra High School visit to Vidinha Stadium, 28-7, last night. The Red Raiders and the Conquistadors out of San Diego, Calif., both went scoreless
Paleku Yasay went 115 yards on 17 carries, with two touchdowns and Kaua‘i High School spoiled Serra High School visit to Vidinha Stadium, 28-7, last night.
The Red Raiders and the Conquistadors out of San Diego, Calif., both went scoreless in the first. Play was also stopped for approximately 13 minutes due to a power outage at the stadium.
But a 31-yard punt return from Dayne Murata in the second, after play resumed, ignited the Kaua‘i offense three minutes in.
From there, Trey Shimabukuro connected with Yasay for 9 yards, then hit up Sheldon Sakai for a 19-yard TD. In that sequence, Kaua‘i scored off of three plays on 28 yards in 48 seconds.
With less than two minutes left in the half, Shimabukuro handed off to Yasay for three consecutive plays to move the Raiders up, before hitting Canaan Bernard with a 26 touchdown pass.
In the next sequence, Serra fumbled a Trent Allianic punt and Kaua‘i’s Kalena Rodero-Workman recovered it on the Serra 28. Shimabukuro found Sakai for a 21-yard pitch and catch which led to a Yasay 7-yard touchdown at 1:20.
With the short amount of time left in the half, Serra was able to get three quick plays off, each resulting in big completions including a 20 yarder to Josh Magallanez who landed on the Kaua‘i 1 yard line. Serra quarterback Arthur Stewart scrambled around the pack in the center and went wide right for a 1-yard touchdown with 11 seconds on the clock.
That would be it though for the Conquistadors who, last year, made it to their conference finals in California. Their main problem was the Kaua‘i defense that was able to keep them out of the end zone. Stewart’s passing numbers were better than Shimabukuro’s, finishing 12-of-19 with 163 yards and one interception, to Shimabukuro’s 8-of-16 and 108 yards. The difference was that Shimabukuro got close and made the completions when it mattered.
Stewart even pulled off an Eli Manning Super Bowl escape when he broke away from Raiders pulling on his jersey and another at his feet to complete a long pass to Magallanez.
Yasay scored the final touchdown for the Raiders midway through the third off a 3-yard run. Kaua‘i’s senior kicker/quarterback Allianic was 4-for-4 in extra point attempts.
Kaua‘i finished with 296 yards total offense to Serra’s 185. The Raiders finish the preseason 2-0 with the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation officially starting its regular season next week.
