LIHUE — The Red Raiders are now one win away from clinching the league title. Kauai High School’s varsity football team defeated Kapaa, 30-0, Saturday night at Vidinha Stadium. With Saturday’s win, Kauai High (3-1 KIF) can win its first
LIHUE — The Red Raiders are now one win away from clinching the league title.
Kauai High School’s varsity football team defeated Kapaa, 30-0, Saturday night at Vidinha Stadium. With Saturday’s win, Kauai High (3-1 KIF) can win its first Kauai Interscholastic Federation championship since 2013 with a win this weekend.
Kauai will play Waimea (2-2 KIF) on Saturday at Hanapepe Stadium. The junior varsity game will begin 2 p.m. and the varsity will follow.
“It feels great. It’s been a long while, I think three years or four years, since this program has been in this position — to play for a championship game,” said Kauai head coach Derek Borrero. “These kids have worked really hard. Really hard. We’re no different from Kapaa and Waimea. Everybody’s kind of banged up. But to empower their will, to come out in the second half and just keep grinding, we knew we had something coming. We just weren’t able to put it together, and it finally popped.”
After a scoreless first half, the Red Raiders got on the board on a safety late in the third quarter.
With a botched snap on a punt attempt, Warriors kicker Chyson Lagunes-Rapozo kicked the ball into the end zone to give up two points rather than give Kauai possession deep in their territory.
After that initial score, the Red Raiders went on to score four touchdowns in the half.
Red Raiders senior running back Jaykob Nakaahiki-Young and senior rusher Aukai Albao each scored two touchdowns.
Nakaahiki-Young got his first score on a 23-yard run with seconds left in the third quarter and punched another one in the fourth from the 1-yard line. Albao first scored on a 12-yard reception from junior quarterback Christian Manera and then scored again on a 2-yard run.
“That sparked the energy in us. That made the O-line want to block harder, and made the defense want to come in faster,” Nakaahiki-Young said. “Everyone wanted to do their job. O-line and D-line did their share. I got the credit, but they did all the work tonight, again. So, all credit goes to my O-line and D-line.”
In the night, Nakaahiki-Young totaled 96 yards rushing and two touchdowns on offense and four tackles, two interceptions and a pass deflection on defense.
“This is No. 1. I’ve never had a game where I had two touchdowns and two interceptions,” Nahaahiki-Young said. “This is just super cool, and I’m just super thankful that God allowed the ball to come my way and that the O-line blocked and that the D-line did their jobs. So, everything goes to those guys.”
Borrero said of Nakaahiki-Young: “Jaykob, he’s a special guy. He’s a four-year starter. Not too many guys get to play on the varsity level nowadays and start as a freshman. He’s one of those guys. He’s taken his lumps throughout the years, and he’s an awesome leader. He’s the heartbeat of this team. We got a few other people that’s like that, but he’s the guy. He’s an incredible leader.”
Kapaa (1-3 KIF) had early success running the ball. The Warriors had some drives into enemy territory in the first half but were undone by either turnovers or untimely penalties.
Warriors senior running back Kalena Harder was the workhorse for Kapaa’s offense. He totaled 136 yards rushing on 27 carries, running for 116 yards just in the first half. Harder also had five receptions for 54 yards receiving.
“We moved the ball in the first half. I felt pretty good about that, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot, again,” said Kapaa head coach Philip Rapozo. “I think we had six turnovers tonight. It’s going to be hard to beat a good team if you turn over the ball six times, but it’s part of the game. We got to fix that. We got to keep fighting.”
He added: “I know they didn’t give up, the boys. And I’m proud of them for that. We just kept making mistakes. Again, this is a young team. They got a hard time when they keep making mistakes. But I’m proud of them. They kept fighting. We ran into a good team tonight.”
Going into the season, the Warriors had hopes of a fourth-consecutive KIF title. With Saturday’s result, the best Kapaa can hope for now is that all three teams finish the regular season 3-3 which would lead to playoff games.
“I don’t think you’re going to see any of the KIF teams put together the 10-year or eight-year stretches in a row. I’d be surprised if we ever see that again,” Rapozo said. “It’s too close. All three teams are competitive. It’s a competitive league. Even in the past, when we’ve won our games, we always got into battles in the second and third round (of games). It’s going to happen. … It’s out of our hands right now. All we can do is keep playing, play for pride, and see what happens. We’re not going to give up.”
Kapaa next plays on Oct. 14 against Waimea at Vidinha Stadium.
SCORING SUMMARY
3rd quarter
03:45 KAUAI safety, 2-0 Kauai
00:21 KAUAI Jaykob Nakaahiki-Young 23-yard run, Logan Noice PAT good, 9-0 Kauai
4th quarter
11:37 KAUAI Aukai Albao 12-yard reception from Christian Manera, Logan Noice PAT good, 16-0 Kauai
06:41 KAUAI Jaykob Nakaahiki-Young 1-yard run, Logan Noice PAT good, 23-0 Kauai
03:04 KAUAI Aukai Albao 2-yard run, Logan Noice PAT good, 30-0 Kauai
STAT LEADERS
Kauai
Passing: Christian Manera, 5-12, 79 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception
Rushing: Jaykob Nakaahiki-Young, 22 carries, 96 yards, 2 touchdowns
Receiving: Aukai Albao, 3 receptions, 46 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 fumble
Defense: Zachary Hee, 7 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass deflection
Kapaa
Passing: Kahanu Davis, 8-28, 61 yards, 3 interceptions
Rushing: Kalena Harder, 27 carries, 136 yards, 1 fumble
Receiving: Kalena Harder, 5 receptions, 54 yards
Defense: Ekolu Rivera, 6 tackles, 1 sack
