HONOLULU — It won’t be back-to-back visits to Aloha Stadium for the Kaua‘i Red Raiders after the 2010 Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation champions were topped 14-0 by ‘Iolani, Saturday afternoon at ‘Iolani School on O‘ahu. In a Division II semifinal matchup
HONOLULU — It won’t be back-to-back visits to Aloha Stadium for the Kaua‘i Red Raiders after the 2010 Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation champions were topped 14-0 by ‘Iolani, Saturday afternoon at ‘Iolani School on O‘ahu.
In a Division II semifinal matchup of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association state football championships, the defenses controlled the tempo and both teams struggled to put together sustained drives deep into their opponent’s territory. But ‘Iolani (8-3) took advantage of its limited opportunities to move on to the state title game against Kaimuki, which starts at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Aloha Stadium.
“They played an excellent ballgame,” said Kaua‘i head coach Derek Borrero. “We said that ‘Iolani is beatable, but they’re not going to beat themselves and that’s exactly what happened tonight. They didn’t beat themselves. They had a couple boo-boos here and there, but we weren’t able to capitalize on them. As soon as we made a couple boo-boos ˜ boom. They just pounce on it and they score.”
Jordan Lee had a 7-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter and a 25-yard strike from quarterback Reece Foy to Kevin Barayuga early in the second quarter accounted for all the afternoon’s points.
Lee caught five balls for 64 yards on the day, Foy’s main target on his way to 89 yards on 12 of 17 passing.
Ammon Baldomero was the workhorse on the ground, carrying 19 times for 74 yards. Lee had five carries for 20 yards and the score.
Darren Acoba led the Kaua‘i (8-2, 5-1 KIF) ground attack with 86 yards on 24 carries. The converted wide receiver also had two catches for eight yards.
Quarterback Shea Shimabukuro threw just four passes, connecting on one, a 4-yard pass to Acoba. He carried five times for 18 yards and had a 29-yard catch late in the fourth quarter.
Defensively for Kaua‘i, Mason Manera and Kaimana Wilson each made their presence known in the ‘Iolani backfield, while Travis Koga earned himself a sack, finishing off a 14-yard ‘Iolani loss on a high snap from center.
The rematch of the 2009 Div. II championship game featured much less offense from both sides, but ended with the same result. Kaua‘i came in as the underdog and, despite a gritty performance, could not pull off the upset.
“They’re just a great, disciplined team,” Borrero said of the victors. “They’re not only disciplined with the x’s and o’s, but you can tell that these kids are socially disciplined. You can tell just by how they move and act on the field. It’s a great team to play and watch… Every time we play ‘Iolani, they force us to pick our game up, so that’s great experience. We go home and we are just fired up about spring.”
A few costly mistakes and a few inches here and there kept Kaua‘i from getting closer to the top seed in the Div. II bracket.
The Red Raiders were stopped by just an inch on a 4th and 1 quarterback sneak from Shimabukuro, early in the fourth quarter on their own 28. But Kaua‘i came right back and picked off Foy on the very next play, Alvin Honorato coming down with a deflected pass intended for Trevyn Tulonghari.
The team was stopped on another 4th and 2 with 6:20 to play, Koga plowing forward but seeing the spot come up a few feet short. Koga had eight carries for 28 yards.
After struggling with turnovers for most of the season, Kaua‘i turned it over twice in the game, the second coming on its final possession. Trailing by two scores late in the fourth quarter, JV quarterback Trey Aguano came into the game and connected with Shimabukuro on a 29-yard reception. As Shimabukuro fought for more yards inside the 20, the ball was popped loose and recovered by ‘Iolani’s Reid Saito to put the game away.
“I was able to get my JV quarterback in there just to get the feel of some varsity stuff and he’s going to be a great one,” Borrero said. “He needs to grow a little bit, but he’s got a good mind, a good arm and you know what? He just came right into the game and he just started moving around, went 2 for 2, so we’ve got a lot of good things to look forward to.”
Aguano completed both his passes for 33 yards.
The head coach had plenty of praise for his team following the game, telling them that they have much to be proud of after a trying season. Each little accomplishment from the whole year should be what they remember, he said. He was also proud of how the team continued to work and kept its toughness all season.
“These are kids that are just relentless,” he said. “They do what we tell them to do, they go and take care of their aches and pains, they go and spend time with Keith Burgess and our athletic trainers. So I think with all that we’ve done, the fact that we were able to overcome a lot of struggles, these kids have learned how to do that and also the coaching staff, because we had to adjust a lot of things that we normally just take for granted.
Neither team established an offensive rhythm early in the game, with Kaua‘i going three and out on its first two possessions, forcing an ‘Iolani three and out in between.
But the top seed got on the board on its second drive of the day, putting together a 13-play, 77-yard drive that was capped off by a 7-yard run by Lee on a 3rd and Goal. Lee took the handoff on a halfback read, ran off tackle to the left and slid in for the score.
Lee stayed on to add the extra point for a 7-0 lead with 1:10 to play in the first quarter.
Kaua‘i responded with a promising drive, picking up a pair of first downs on runs by Acoba, but the Red Raiders then surrendered their first turnover. Koga took a 2nd and 6 handoff toward the right sideline and had the ball knocked out as he was going to the ground by Dylan Goto. Cody Petro-Sakuma scooped it up and took off for 45 yards, finally run down by Shimabukuro, who had sprinted back to make the stop.
Starting on the Kaua‘i 20, ‘Iolani needed just three plays to double its lead when Barayuga found himself wide open on the left sideline and hauled in a 25-yard pass from Foy. Just like that, it was 14-0 with 8:44 to play in the first half.
Kaua‘i threatened on its final drive of the half, getting to the ‘Iolani 31, but a chop block penalty ended thoughts of a late score, sending the teams to the locker room at 14-0.
‘Iolani kept its offense safe in the second half, opting to use the clock and allow its defense to maintain the lead.
The team was staying on O‘ahu for the night. They had a team dinner planned at a nice Italian restaurant, followed by a movie. They were scheduled to return to Kaua‘i this morning.
Borrero was conflicted about his emotions with the season’s conclusion.
“First of all, I’m ready to get back in the weight room and get back on the field to start teaching the fundamentals,” he said. “But it is going to be nice to take a little break, get off the field and away from the facilities.”
‘Iolani will take on Kaimuki in the opener of Friday’s championship doubleheader at Aloha Stadium. The nightcap will be the Div. I title game with Wai‘anae going up against Saint Louis.
