KAPA‘A — Field infractions proved costly to the varsity Red Raiders Saturday night during a defensive slugfest before a full Kapa‘a house of fans at the Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste Sports Complex stadium.
The Warriors scored four touchdowns in the 27-0 shutout, and Kaua‘i miscues fueled two of the four scores on lengthy facemask and personal-foul infractions.
Celebrating the school’s homecoming, the Kapa‘a forces were held to punt away on its first two possessions, Kapa‘a kicker Christopher Rapozo doing a great job of kicking the ball inside the 10-yard line.
Kaua‘i High was unable to dig out of the holes, and Kapa‘a took control and marched down the field, fueled by a facemask infraction that was capped when backup quarterback Evan Daligdig opted to charge the four yards to paydirt early in the second quarter.
Warrior Owen Rabucal plucked a Kaua‘i High pass on the ensuing Raider possession, and coupled with another lengthy infraction, Kapa‘a nudged the scoreboard on a Kapono Na-O three-yard charge through traffic for Kapa‘a’s second score for the 13-0 bulge with 1:01 remaining before the break.
Kapa‘a opened the third quarter when Baba Simmons took a Raider punt and ran it back for touchdown. But a blindside infraction brought the pigskin back to the Warrior 20-yard marker, where Kapa‘a regrouped.
Na-O picked up his second touchdown of the night to cap the 80-yard drive by pushing nine yards to paydirt. He followed the feat by keeping the ball on a two-point conversion for the 21-0 read with 2:43 showing in the third frame.
Daligdig notched his second TD of the night when he capped a 56-yard drive on a 13-yard scamper in the fourth quarter with 3:24 showing on the game clock. The point-after failed for the 27-0 final.
Earlier, the Kapa‘a junior varsity squad scored two touchdowns in the third quarter and added a score in the fourth quarter towards its 26-0 shutout over the Kaua‘i JV.
Leading 6-0 at the break on a touchdown up the middle by Mahana Alameda, the JV Warriors closed the third quarter on an Alameda two-yard charge through traffic. Micah Rapozo kicked the successful point-after-touchdown.
Brayden Bermoy pushed two yards through traffic for the other third-quarter score, and a fumble recovery and runback for a touchdown by Felisi Hunt with less than a minute remaining accounted for the JV scoring.
Kaua‘i High School, celebrating its Homecoming Week, will host Waimea High School Saturday during a day game at Vidinha Stadium in Lihu‘e. The JV game kicks off at noon, with the varsity contest starting 30 minutes following the completion of the JV matchup.
Tickets are available online only.
•••
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
