KAPA‘A — Friday night’s game at the New Kapa‘a Town Park was exactly what most had anticipated, a close, hard-fought battle between the Waimea Menehune and the Kapa‘a Warriors. In the end, Kapa‘a came away with a 7-6 win in
KAPA‘A — Friday night’s game at the New Kapa‘a Town Park was exactly what most had anticipated, a close, hard-fought battle between the Waimea Menehune and the Kapa‘a Warriors. In the end, Kapa‘a came away with a 7-6 win in a game that both teams had opportunities to win.
Kapa‘a started off the game by converting its first third-down attempt when quarterback Brehdan Kamibayashi found wide receiver Awai Dejos for a 24-yard pickup.
But the Waimea defense stifled the drive when Kaulana Waalani-Arroyo came through the middle untouched and sacked Kamibayashi for a six-yard loss. The Warriors found themselves with a tough decision early and Coach Keli‘i Morgado elected to go for it on 4th and 9 at the Menehune 38-yard line. Kamibayashi’s pass fell incomplete and Kapa‘a turned it over on downs.
Waimea took over on its own 38, but a holding penalty brought the offense back to its own 26-yard line. On the next play, quarterback Jenzen Cacal’s pass down the seam was intercepted by Kapa‘a’s Jacob Rapozo. He immediately headed upfield and made it outside to the right sideline. From there, he outran the Waimea offense and scored the game’s first touchdown on a 34-yard return. The Gabrielle Aloi kick put the Warriors up 7-0 with 7:07 remaining in the opening quarter.
After the kickoff, Waimea took over once again on its own 29-yard line. Another holding penalty put the Menehune in a deep hole and led to a three and out. But a booming 64-yard punt into the end zone gave Kapa‘a the ball on its own 20.
Each defense forced three and outs on their ensuing possessions and Kapa‘a got the ball, starting on its own 35-yard line.
Austin Kaneholani got things going with an 11-yard reception on first down, getting Kapa‘a to the 46-yard line. But the Warriors managed just one yard in the next three plays and again lined up to punt.
However, Coach Morgado had a little trickery in mind and Kapa‘a executed a well-constructed fake. The punter sold it nicely, mimicking a botched snap, but it actually went to the upman, Chaz Dabin, who took off for 30 yards and an apparent first down. Unfortunately for Kapa‘a, holding was called at the line of scrimmage, nullifying the big gain.
Waimea got on the board late in the first half through the big play when Cacal found Waalani-Arroy downfield in single coverage. The deep pass fell into the receiver’s arms and he had one man to beat. A strong initial move got him in the clear and the big-play specialist ran away with a 69-yard touchdown. The extra point was missed and Kapa‘a’s lead was 7-6 with 1:03 left in the half.
The teams continued to show strong defense in the second half, though the offenses began to pick up more first downs than they had in the first. Kapa‘a’s Darren Taylor started to get the ground attack going, churning out yards and not going down on initial impact.
Waimea also started moving with the legs of Clifton Callejo and Ikaika Rapacon. The Menehune drove to the Kapa‘a 16-yard line before Weston Moniz and Josh Uhatafe had big tackles for losses on successive plays and Waimea was forced into a long 45-yard field goal attempt, which ended up being unsuccessful.
The Warriors followed with two drives deep into Waimea territory, but as was the case for their opponent, bad snaps and penalties pushed them back and they were unable to add points to their tally.
In the game’s final minutes, Waimea’s defense made one final stand and forced Kapa‘a to punt the ball away with 53.6 seconds remaining.
Trailing by one, the Menehune started on their own 10-yard line and Alex Palacio hauled in a second-down pass to bring his team out to the 26. After that, three passes fell incomplete and Waimea faced a 4th and 10 with 16.3 seconds remaining.
The ball never got out of the backfield on the decisive play as defensive end Kaulana Kaui closed the evening’s festivities with a sack. One quarterback kneel later and Kapa‘a had the 7-6 victory.
Even in a losing effort, Waalani-Arroyo was named player of the game for his all-around effort on offense, defense and special teams.
Callejo led Waimea with 58 yards on six carries. Taylor led Kapa‘a with 65 yards on 12 carries.
Kamibayashi threw for 109 yards, while Cacal totaled 108 through the air.
Waimea (0-2) will have the week off while Kapa‘a (1-1) gets to play at home again next week when Kaua‘i (2-0) comes to the New Kapa‘a Town Park.
