LIHUE — The beat goes on for the Warriors. Kapaa High School’s varsity football team defeated Waimea, 35-0, Friday evening at Vidinha Stadium. “It’s great to be 2-0 (in league play), but there’s a lot of work to be done,”
LIHUE — The beat goes on for the Warriors.
Kapaa High School’s varsity football team defeated Waimea, 35-0, Friday evening at Vidinha Stadium.
“It’s great to be 2-0 (in league play), but there’s a lot of work to be done,” said Kapaa head coach Philip Rapozo. “We made a lot of mistakes tonight on both sides of the ball — offense and defense. And even on special teams, we had some mistakes. And we’re usually pretty good on special teams.
“But hey, that’s why we coach, and that’s why they play. We’ll just keep working. We got to get better every week,” he continued.
Kapaa (4-0, 2-0 KIF) again saw its two quarterbacks in action, and both threw touchdowns for a second consecutive game.
Warriors starter, senior Kurt Napoleon, threw a 4-yard strike to Ikona Fernandez in the second quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Napoleon handed the ball off to backup quarterback, junior Teili Fonua. While Fonua appeared to run, he faked and threw downfield to senior receiver Gabe Keener for a 35-yard score.
“Kurt just handed off the ball. It was all the O-line. Basically, without the O-line, none of that would have happened,” Fonua said of the trick play. “Gabe ran a good route, and he caught the touchdown. … That was really good. That made the momentum start going up, and it pumped up the team.”
Napoleon ended 7-9 for 50 yards and a touchdown. Fonua was 5-7 for 71 yards and a touchdown.
“They’re both talented, and we got packages for both of them,” Rapozo said of his QBs. “Kurt’s our starting quarterback, and he’s earned that.
“Teili, he helps Kurt out. Kurt has confidence because he knows somebody’s got his back,” he continued. “Last year, nobody had his back. It was Kurt, and after him there was nothing. This year, we’re fine because we got two good guys.”
Kapaa, however, was again tagged with numerous penalties. The Warriors were penalized 13 times to Waimea’s nine.
In the last minute of play, Kapaa was flagged on consecutive plays for encroachment.
“We got to clean that up. If we don’t, it’s going to haunt us,” Rapozo said. “I keep telling the boys this. We keep preaching it in practice. We got to get better. We got to fix that.”
Waimea (1-2, 0-1 KIF) put itself in unfavorable field position for most of the game — mostly from mistakes on special teams.
“Like I said from our first game, we didn’t get better with our mental toughness,” said Waimea head coach Jason Caldeira. “We got to get better in a lot of areas, and focusing is the first key. Our special teams play, we got to get better.
“I feel like we do a good job during the week. It looks very great, but I guess I got to do a better job coaching and getting them prepared,” he continued.
The Menehune gave up a fumble in the team’s first offensive play to give Kapaa the ball deep in their territory.
While Waimea was able to hold off Kapaa from scoring on fourth-and-1 in the first quarter, Kapaa scored on a safety the following play.
“The team was doing good. I saw that the team was putting in effort. We were holding down Kapaa,” said Menehune junior lineman Noah Simao-Raposas. “Kapaa, they had some good plays. All we just have to do is get better. We played our hearts out.”
Waimea’s defense had a better showing against Kapaa’s offense. The Warriors put up 50 points on Kauai High in the regular season opener on Aug. 26.
“There’s three ways your opponent can beat you — mentally, physically and spiritually,” Caldeira said. “I think physically, we didn’t get beat. I thought we held our own. Mentally, we beat ourselves. And spiritually, Kapaa took it from us. They got in our heads, and we acted out of character. They showed why they’re the KIF champs, and we got a lot of more work to do.”
Rapozo, too, said the Menehune’s defense is much-improved.
“Waimea is always physical, but I think they’re more disciplined,” he said. “Watching the film against Iolani — Iolani is a good team. The 35-3, or whatever it was, it didn’t look that bad. So, we knew they were going to come out and fight.”
Kapaa also won the junior varsity contest, 14-7.
Waimea will face Kauai High (0-3, 0-1 KIF) at Vidinha Stadium on Friday. The JV game will start 5 p.m. and the varsity will follow.
1st quarter
07:10 KAPAA safety, 2-0 Kapaa
04:05 KAPAA Kurt Napoleon 1-yard run, PAT no good (blocked), 8-0 Kapaa
2nd quarter
11:54 Ikona Fernandez 4-yard reception from Kurt Napoleon, Clifton Oliver PAT good, 15-0 Kapaa
02:01 KAPAA Clifton Oliver 43-yard field goal, 18-0 Kapaa
4th quarter
07:53 KAPAA Gabe Keener 35-yard reception from Teili Fonua, Clifton Oliver PAT good, 25-0 Kapaa
06:53 KAPAA Ryno Banasihan 3-yard run, Clifton Oliver PAT good, 32-0 Kapaa
00:38 KAPAA Clifton Oliver 30-yard field goal
Kapaa
Passing: Teili Fonua, 5-7, 71 yards, 1 touchdown
Rushing: Leighton Moniz, 14 carries, 72 yards
Receiving: Nakela Snyder, 6 receptions, 66 yards
Defense: Mana Kupihea, 5 tackles, 1 sack
Waimea
Passing: Ardino Ned, 0-3, 0 yards, 1 interception
Rushing: Avery Miguel, 6 carries, 29 yards, 1 fumble
Receiving: N/A
Defense: Noah Simao-Raposas, 2 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass deflection
