KAPA‘A — A point-after boot by Mario Tirado broke the Koloa Rams back as the visiting Mexicali Zorros relished a hard-earned 8-7 win against Koloa, Sunday. That PeeWee matchup was one of three featured games in the annual Shrine Bowl
KAPA‘A — A point-after boot by Mario Tirado broke the Koloa Rams back as the visiting Mexicali Zorros relished a hard-earned 8-7 win against Koloa, Sunday.
That PeeWee matchup was one of three featured games in the annual Shrine Bowl hosted by the Kaua‘i Pop Warner Association.
Kainalu Eva-Smith of the West plucked an interception and returned it 45 yards to give the Midget East an 8-3 win over the West, and Nainoa Soto had a 52-yard touchdown to lead the Junior PeeWee West to a 6-2 win over the East.
The annual Shrine Bowl, hosted by the Kaua‘i Pop Warner Association, had to be re-scheduled from its original Saturday lineup due to the heavy rains that soaked the island from a winter storm.
But with a team visiting from San Diego, the pressure was on to host the game before the Mexicali Zorros had to board a plane and return home.
That pushed the PeeWee contest to the 10 a.m. slot and the players initiated the field, still wet and with standing water, to the day’s action.
Defense ruled the day as Koloa tried unsuccessfully to get past the tall Mexicali corners. The Zorros were tall, but more than that, quick as well, their defenders moving in to quash Koloa plays.
Add a sprinkling of turnovers from both teams and the crowd was left in the air as the horn sounded on a 0-0 stalemate.
Koloa returned to the field and on a concerted effort, capped the opening kickoff drive with a 3-yard touchdown when quarterback Trey Aguano, already battered from numerous hammerings from the Zorros, plowed up the middle through heavy traffic to paydirt with 6:20 showing in the period.
He followed that score by rolling out and crossing the plane for the point-after giving Koloa a 7-0 advantage.
Reinforced by stopping the Zorros’ kickoff drive following the score, Koloa could not retain the lead.
Mexicali muffed a punt return, but ended up scoring when a missed Koloa block and a pair of nice Zorros blocks opened up the field for Mario Tirado who romped 59 yards for the score at the 3:25 mark.
A Tirado point-after boot was the 8-7 margin of victory.
With 11 seconds showing in the first period, Soto broke open for a 52-yard score to give the JPW West its control of the game until the fourth period when the JPW East was able to generate two points on a safety.
Defense also ruled the Midget matchup when the West’s Kaela Lanning broke a 0-0 deadlock at the 5:41 mark with a 23-yard field goal.
But on the ensuing series, Eva-Smith scored for the East on his interception return at the 3:56 mark.
Reginald McFadden booted the point-after for the final 8-3 score.
The Shrine Bowl marks the end of the Kaua‘i Pop Warner Association’s 2008 tackle football season. Proceeds from the Shrine Bowl are turned over to the Shriner’s International, the group that came up with the funds for the Kaua‘i Pop Warner Association to secure its original set of equipment when the league was formed decades ago.
Last year, the Kaua‘i Pop Warner Association turned over more than $3,000 to Shriner’s International during its Jamboree that opened the tackle football season.
