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Without two dynamic late-game plays by Fresno's Eddie Klaneski, the Hawaiian Islanders' dash to victory Saturday may not have been as difficult as it turned out to be. Klaneski almost
tripped Islanders
By Nick Abramo
nabramo@starbulletin.comThe Islanders pulled out a 50-47 win on Darnell Arceneaux's touchdown sneak with 9.8 seconds left.
But earlier, the pesky Klaneski rattled off a 56-yard kickoff return from 7 yards deep in the end zone to the Hawaii 1. Quarterback Ricky Ray covered the final yard for a 39-38 lead with 4:51 to go.
The Blaisdell Arena crowd sensed a victory for the home team when Robert Kemfort caught an Arceneaux 5-yard toss for a 44-39 lead with 1:12 left.
But Klaneski struck again, catching a bullet from Ray on a fly pattern down the right side for a 35-yard score and a 47-44 edge with 53 ticks remaining before Arceneaux sealed it for Hawaii.
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Klaneski won the game's Ironman Award for outstanding two-way play.The two-time All-WAC safety returned four kicks for 98 yards and he made five solo tackles.
He had one other reception for 18 yards, and he rushed twice for 12 yards.
These are not your father's goalposts: Kickers Jake Huggins of the Islanders and Brian McCabe of the Frenzy proved field goals and extra points in arena football are far from sure things.
There's only nine feet between the goalposts instead of the 18 1/2 feet in the NFL. Also, the cross bar is 15 feet high in arena ball and 10 feet high in the NFL.
Huggins' only field goal attempt, from 46 yards, was blocked, and he went 2-for-7 on extra points.
McCabe kicked a 20-yard field goal for Fresno's first points of the game, but he missed from 31 yards with no time left on the clock in an effort to send the game to overtime. Hawaii's Sae Paogofie and Tiki Sagapolutele blocked McCabe's attempts of 38 and 41 yards.
McCabe also missed a 37-yard try that isn't part of the official stats because an Islanders' penalty gave him another chance as time ran out.
He had an easier time with extra points, going 4-for-4.
Hitsville: Fresno's Chris Bayne led all tacklers with six, but Hawaii's Paogofie paced the Islanders with five en route to defensive player of the game honors.
Miles Garner and Sae's brother Chris Paogofie made four tackles each, and Garner made the only sack of the game, dropping Ray for a seven-yard loss.
Katsuhiro Motono, who played for Ritsumeikan College in Kyoto, Japan, chipped in with three tackles.
Shifty speed boy: The evasive Darrell Jones quickly became the hot target for Arceneaux. The 5-foot-7, 165-pound offensive specialist, who attended Arkansas State, skittered and juked his way for huge chunks of after-the-catch yardage to earn player of the game honors. He caught 12 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown, rushed twice for 15 yards and returned four kickoffs for 92 yards.
League honors: Arceneaux and Sae Paogofie were named the af2 offensive and defensive players of the week yesterday.
Need for speed: The Richmond Speed won last weekend's only other af2 game, beating the Roanoke Steam, 50-21.
The Speed lost to the Quad City Steamwheelers in last year's championship game.
TV and radio: KCCN 1420-AM will broadcast all of the Islanders' games live, unless a game conflicts with a University of Hawaii sports broadcast, in which case the Islanders can be heard on tape delay.
Bob Hogue and Chris Schutter are the radio announcers for the home games, and Kevin Hashiro and Schutter are with the team for the away games.
Oceanic Cable will televise all home games live on pay-per-view (analog Channel 77, digital Channel 777) at a cost of $6.95 per game. They'll also replay the games at no charge to subscribers on Mondays at 8 p.m. on OC-16, except for the May 11 game, which will be replayed on the following Wednesday at 8 p.m.
Robert Kekaula and Kanoa Leahey are the TV announcers.
Next up: Division rival Bakersfield Blitz comes to Hawaii to play the Islanders on April 13 at 7 p.m. at the Blaisdell.
Bakersfield opens its season this weekend at the San Diego Riptide.
The Frenzy starts its home schedule on April 13 against San Diego.
Support group: According to the Islanders' front office, the attendance figure of 4,376 was the number of fans with tickets through the turnstiles.
Individual statistics
Rushing No. Yds Avg Lg TD Darnell Arceneaux 8 53 6.6 53 3 Darrell Jones 2 15 7.5 8 0 Robert Kemfort 2 9 4.5 7 0 Derek Zoller 1 5 5.0 5 1 Danny Katoa 1 4 4.0 4 0 Chris Paogofie 1 -1 -1.0 -1.0 0
Passing Comp Att Int Yds TD Lg Arceneaux 19 36 0 194 3 30
Receiving No. Yds Avg Lg TD Darrell Jones 12 131 10.9 29 1 Isaac White 3 48 16.0 30 1 Sae Paogofie 2 13 6.5 11 0 Robert Kemfort 1 5 5.0 5 1 Danny Katoa 1 -3 -3.0 -3.0 0
Kickoff returns No. Yds Avg Lg TD Darrell Jones 4 92 23.0 39 0 Robert Kemfort 1 6 6.0 6 0 Chris Paogofie 1 10 10.0 10 0 Katsuhiro Motono 0 -6 -6.0 -6.0 0
Tackles Solo Ast Tot Sack Sae Paogofie 2 3 5 0 Miles Garner 3 1 4 1 Chris Paogofie 3 1 4 0 Katsuhiro Motono 2 1 3 0 Morrie Roe 2 0 2 0 Jerry Leano 2 0 2 0 Isaac White 1 1 2 0 Kenny Harper 1 1 2 0 Danny Katoa 0 2 2 0 Olen Rosehill 0 2 2 0 Tetsuya Akiyama 1 0 1 0 Jake Huggins 1 0 1 0 Robert Kemfort 0 1 1 0 Derek Zoller 0 1 1 0
Scoring TD XP FG Tot Darnell Arceneaux 3 0 0 18 Darrell Jones 1 0 0 6 Robert Kemfort 1 0 0 6 Isaac White 1 0 0 6 Derek Zoller 1 0 0 6 Chris Paogofie 1 0 0 6 Jake Huggins 0 2 0 2 Schedule
Home games in caps (Hawaii time)
Date Opponent Time March 30 FRESNO (W, 50-47) 7 p.m. April 13 BAKERSFIELD 7 p.m. April 20 at Quad City 2 p.m. April 27 at Wichita 2:30 p.m. May 4 TULSA 7 p.m. May 11 SAN DIEGO 7 p.m. May 18 at Tulsa 2:30 p.m. May 25 at Fresno 4:30 pm. June 1 at San Diego 4 p.m. June 8 PEORIA 7 p.m. June 15 SAN DIEGO 7 p.m. June 22 at Bakersfield 4 p.m. June 29 BAKERSFIELD 7 p.m. July 12 at Arkansas 2 p.m. July 20 QUAD CITY 7 p.m. July 27 at Fresno 4:30 p.m.