LIHUE — Does losing in the championship game hurt? Yes. But it does not belittle what the Warriors have accomplished over the course of the season. “Unfortunately, somebody had to win and somebody had to lose. Unfortunately, that was us,”
LIHUE — Does losing in the championship game hurt? Yes.
But it does not belittle what the Warriors have accomplished over the course of the season.
“Unfortunately, somebody had to win and somebody had to lose. Unfortunately, that was us,” said Kapaa senior linebacker Mosese Fifita. “But it was a great experience. The journey we (went through) to get here was awesome.”
Upon arriving back from playing at the First Hawaiian Bank Football Championships–Division II state final, members of Kapaa High School’s varsity football team took some time to reflect on that title game Saturday morning at the Lihue Airport.
Kapaa fell short in that game, losing to Radford of the Oahu Interscholastic Federation, 30-16, on Friday at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.
“Right now, we’re still hurting. We had the goal of winning the state title,” said Kapaa head coach Philip Rapozo. “I thought we were close. At one point, we felt like we were going to do it. We started off really good. And then Radford came back, and we made some mistakes — turned over the ball in the opening kickoff of the second half, and I think that changed the game right there.”
While the Warriors had a 16-14 lead at halftime, the team didn’t add to that lead as Radford went on to score two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to secure the Rams’ first Division II state championship.
Rapozo said the offense couldn’t sustain drives on offense in the second half because it got beat in the trenches, therefore keeping the defense on the field longer than expected.
Because the defense played more than anticipated, it ran out of gas toward the end of the game and couldn’t halt Radford’s offense.
“We couldn’t protect our quarterback and couldn’t run,” he said. “They were physical. They just outclassed us that day. It’s just part of the game.”
Though the Warriors couldn’t bring a state championship back to Kauai, one of its players managed to put his name in the record books.
With his 45-yard field goal in the second quarter, junior kicker Clifton Oliver set a Division II record for longest field goal made in a championship game. It’s also the second-longest in a state title game ever, for both Division I and Division II.
“I didn’t really think of it. I just went up and kicked the ball,” Oliver said. “It means a lot to me, but hopefully I can keep working hard and set new records — set a longer one. I’m not satisfied with 45. I know I can do farther.”
Kapaa finished with a 9-1 overall record, going 6-0 in the Kauai Interscholastic Federation season and 1-1 in the Division II playoffs.
“We’re very thankful and very blessed to get the opportunity to contend for a state title,” Rapozo said. “Although we came up short, I’m proud of these boys. They hung in there. We worked hard. We set all of our goals, except for one. That’s just part of playing sports.”
“I’d like to thank the Kapaa community, the fans, for being so great this year. And also the island for the support we got through the playoffs,” he added.
