Wolfpack ground down Mustangs for 28-20 win

To combat a swirling wind, the Pac-Five Wolfpack switched philosophies and used a strong running game to hold on to defeat the Kalaheo Mustangs 28-20 at Kailua High School last night.

In a sloppy 32-penalty game, Pac-Five opened the scoring with a 53-yard drive that was capped by Jamie Rivera's 17-yard touchdown run.

Kalaheo used some trickery to take a 14-7 lead late in the first half following an onside kick recovery. A 38-yard strike from Mustangs quarterback Cody vonAppen to Bruce Andrews set up Aka Poole's 6-yard touchdown run, his second score of the half.

Pac-Five was able to tie the game at 14-14 before the half and used a ball-control running attack to open the second half with an 80-yard scoring drive. Senior Liko Satele finished the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run, giving the Wolfpack a 21-14 lead.

The Mustangs made a game of it in the fourth quarter when Andrews picked off Wolfpack quarterback Bryson Beirne at midfield. Minutes later, Koakela Siliga scored on a 9-yard run with 2:20 remaining in the game, drawing the Mustangs to within a point and giving his team a chance to go for the win.

Unfortunately for Kalaheo, the 2-point conversion failed when Siliga was stuffed a yard short of the goal line.

Pac-Five sealed the game when Rivera broke free for a 40-yard touchdown with seconds left.