By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
As it has most of the season, the Campbell defense
came up big in the second half last night.
Lightning flashed above the goal posts.
As if the Tigers' 20-15 Oahu Interscholastic Association playoff semifinal loss to Campbell wasn't enough for the two to bear, Mother Nature was adding insult to injury with a monsoon-like squall that punished them all the way to the team bus.
The player Tanuvasa comforted, Solomon Lealao, had left everything he had on the soaked stadium carpet.
Lealao's stunning poise against long odds and extreme discomfort won him an unprecedented sense of honor and nearly made a dream come true for the fourth-place White Conference finishers.
McKinley (6-3) has never been in an OIA football final, and Lealao did all he could to rectify that.
Despite a pair of painfully inadequate ankles and a weak shoulder, he played fiercely at linebacker, helping to hold in check one of the OIA's fastest running backs. He made three tackles that went for losses, including a a sack. He launched some brilliant punts (one stopped at the Campbell 4) and - most incredibly - booted a 40-yard field goal with no time left in the first half.
That line drive kick, coming after two straight extra-point misses dating back to last week's win against Farrington, sent his team into the locker room with a 9-0 lead that surprised most of 2,366 fans on hand.
"I hope I can go to college," he said softly before venturing into the rain.
But no degree of heroics from Lealao or his over-achieving teammates could deny the resilient Sabers (6-2) their chance to play for the OIA title next Friday.
They'll face the winner of tonight's Waianae (7-0) vs. Waipahu (4-3) semifinal.
Like Freddy Krueger, the Sabers keep coming back with a vengeance every time they're left for dead.
Last week, they won despite squandering a 20-0 first-quarter lead they'd built against Castle.
Last night, they overcame sloppy ball-handling, 135 yards in penalties and a fired-up McKinley defense to become the first Campbell team ever to earn an OIA football championship game berth.
They once again lived up to their reputation as a second-half team, shutting down the McKinley offense in the last two quarters. Only a 12-yard fumble return for a touchdown by linebacker Solo Moananu, 1:41 into the half, kept the Tigers in the game.
Campbell senior quarterback Kaleopa Kaleopa, another player with an intriguing background, took it upon himself to beat McKinley when the Tigers were effectively limiting big-play running back Clifford Russell to short gains.
Kaleopa, a native of American Samoa who had played only rugby and just began learning how to play football when he arrived at Campbell a few years ago, threw three touchdown passes during an eight-minute span in the third and fourth quarters.
He completed 11 of 13 for 226 yards and was not picked off.
Two of the scoring passes - 28 yards to Marc Acidera in the third quarter and 14 yards to Acidera in the fourth - were made against tight coverage.
The Sabers' second touchdown pass - an 83-yarder to Russell - came on a screen pass with Tigers defensive lineman Imialoaa Richardson in Kaleopa's face. Russell, who had 93 yards rushing on 23 carries and 87 receiving, made a lineman miss at about the 25 and he was in the open.
"They took away the run and Cliff showed what a man he is on that pass play," Campbell head coach Darren Hernandez said.
But Kaleopa paid a dear price on the last scoring play. He injured his knee when Jarvis Eliapo made a desperation tackle attempt as Kaleopa crossed the goal line on a two-point conversion.
"Right now, it doesn't look good because he may have torn medial collateral ligaments and be out for the season," Hernandez said.
"I'll be back next week - don't worry," said the ever buoyant Kaleopa, cradling a game trophy presented him by Oceanic TV.
"Don't bet against him," Hernandez said.
Campbell 20, McKinley 15 McKinley 6 3 0 6 -- 15 Campbell 0 0 12 8 -- 20
Scoring summaryMcK-Lealao 40 FG
Camp-Acidera 28 pass from Kaleopa (run failed)
Camp-Russell 83 pass from Kaleopa (run failed)
McK-Moananu 12 return of fumble (run failed)
Camp-Acidera 14 pass from Kaleopa (Kaleopa run)
Individual StatisticsPassing-McKinley: Napulou 11-17-0 for 111 yards. Campbell: Kaleopa 11-13-0 for 226 yards.
Receiving-McKinley: Tokunaga 1-11, Garma 3-48, Mostella 3-17, Maiava 4-35. Campbell: Russell 3-93, Pantastico 4-49, Acidera 3-65, Matsumura 1-19.