HANAPEPE — The Waimea High School junior varsity football team overcame first-half turnovers and a tenacious Kaua‘i defense to remain undefeated with a 7-0 win Friday night. The Menehune JV, falling victim to at least three turnovers in the first
HANAPEPE — The Waimea High School junior varsity football team overcame first-half turnovers and a tenacious Kaua‘i defense to remain undefeated with a 7-0 win Friday night.
The Menehune JV, falling victim to at least three turnovers in the first half, were within striking distance of paydirt when Kaua‘i’s Mason Manera plucked a Waimea pass, keeping the game deadlocked at 0-0 at the half.
Jensen Koga filled in as quarterback for Kaua‘i and was able to engineer several good drives against the Waimea defense, but the Raiders were unable to capitalize with points to punctuate their efforts.
Waimea finally lit up the boards when quarterback Nikko Delos Reyes scored a touchdown on a one-yard keeper play through the Raider goal line defense in the second half.
Austin Santos did the point-after honors for the 7-0 bulge.
Kaua‘i answered with a sustained drive that was stifled after Waimea’s Alika Emayor recovered a fumble following a nice pass play from Koga to Keoki Pantorilla.
Following another defensive exchange, Alika put the game away for keeps by intercepting a Koga pass with 22.8 seconds remaining.
That interception saw Emayo run the ball back to inside the 10-yard line, but a Menehune infraction called the ball back to the Raider 38 where the blue let the clock run out.
Earlier, the Menehune clinched the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation after Kapa‘a edged Kaua‘i high school in last week’s matchup at Vidinha Stadium.
Waimea remains undefeated in the 2009 season with one game remaining — a trip to the New Kapa‘a Town Park stadium for the Warriors’ homecoming starting at 5 p.m.
