LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders came into Saturday’s game against the Waimea Menehune having won back to back games and positioning itself for a direct run at the KIF title. Kaua‘i took care of business at Vidinha
LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders came into Saturday’s game against the Waimea Menehune having won back to back games and positioning itself for a direct run at the KIF title. Kaua‘i took care of business at Vidinha stadium as they went on to beat the Menehune 34-7 effectively killing any chance Waimea had to contend for the championship. Along with knocking out the Menehune, the Red Raiders have also put Kapa‘a in must win situations for the rest of its games in order to force a tie with Kaua‘i.
The Red Raiders opened up the game on a 68-yard drive that lasted nearly six minutes. The drive culminated in a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Trey Aguano to wide receiver Pono Bukoski, putting Kaua‘i up 7-0 early. Running back Reggie McFadden did his work on the ground in aiding the Red Raiders to get inside Waimea territory.
Waimea’s defense would settle down after Kaua‘i’s opening possession and force the Red Raiders to punt on its next three possessions.
The Menehune offense would respond late in the second quarter. With less than a minute to play in the half and Waimea with the ball on its own 44-yard line with it third and 13, quarterback Hazzard McDougall dropped back to pass and rifled the ball down field. The pass hit a Kaua‘i defender in the hands and ricocheted in the air and fall right into the hands of Waimea’s Derek Callejo, who ran the ball up the sideline before being tackled at the Kaua‘i 5-yard line. On the very next play quarterback Dennis Rull, Jr. connected on a 5-yard touchdown pass to Acetyn Emayo making it 7-7 heading into the second half.
What seemed to be another defensive struggle, would quickly change outlooks on Waimea’s first possession in the third quarter. The Menehune would go three and out and be forced to punt, but the Wyatt Taniguchi punt attempt would be blocked and recovered by Micah Ramos giving the Red Raiders possession at Waimea’s 32-yard line.
Although Kaua‘i would not capitalize on the good field position, it enabled Trey to get off a punt that pinned the Menehune inside its own 10-yard line. Two plays later Waimea would fumble, which would be recovered by Isaiah Alvarez on the Menehune 7-yard line.
Trey would not waste anytime getting the ball in the end zone on 7-yard quarterback keeper putting the Red Raiders up 14-7.
To go with his rushing score Trey would finish with 121-yards passing on five of seven attempts and a touchdown.
“We are progressing over the weeks,” Trey said. “We are getting better, the line is picking up their blocks and we are gaining more yards passing and running.”
Two possessions later the Red Raiders fond themselves with good field position once again. And again it was the Kaua‘i High running game that would help fetch them another score. Dreyke Smith-Butac would to do the work this time getting three straight hand-offs starting at the Waimea 34-yard line, which he would turn into a Red Raider touchdown and leaving the score 21-7.
Kaua‘i spread the running game around with multiple personnel sets which led to Smith-Butac finishing with 55-yards rushing on nine carries, Mcfadden with 72-yards rushing, and Waika Alapai with 61-yards rushing. In total the Red Raiders finished with 236-yards on the ground from six different runners.
“I like the offense with everybody touching the ball,” said Head Coach Cory Aguano. “It keeps the defense a little more in check, so we try to have everybody touch the ball and move the ball around.”
Not to be overlooked in the win was the Red Raider defense. Both James Bukoski and Marcus Martinez led the team with eight tackles each. The defense also forced three Waimea turnovers.
“The first half they (defense) were a little confused,” said Cory Aguano. “They came back and our coaches did a really good job making adjustments and stopping them from moving the ball.”
The Red Raiders would go on to score two more touchdowns on the ground, one from McFadden and one from Alapai before the game finished at 34-7 in favor of Kaua‘i.
The victory for the Red Raiders will set up a potential league clinching game next week against the Kapa‘a Warriors.
“You are looking at a team that can run the ball and pass the ball in Kapa‘a,” said Cory Aguano. “We have to be very aggressive, play very fast, not turnover the ball, and sustain drives.”
Kapa‘a knows the situation, it must win to stay alive and have a shot at repeating as champions.
The game is slated for Saturday at 3 p.m. at Vidinha Stadium.
In junior varsity action the Kaua‘i Red Raiders beat the Kapa‘a Warriors 17-7. The Red Raiders got the go ahead score when quarterback Christopher Efhan connected with Lanakila Wilson with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.
The teams will meet again to determine a JV winner Saturday at noon at Vidinha Stadium.
