[ HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL ]
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Pac-Five running back Ryan Leong eyed the end zone but was brought down short by Damien defender Ranson DeCosta last night. The Wolfpack won 41-7.
It's still early in the fight, but the reigning Interscholastic League of Honolulu champions are on the ropes. INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE OF HONOLULU
St. Louis stumbles
against Kamehameha
By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comKamehameha scored a major victory in its quest to dethrone 16-time defending ILH champ St. Louis with a 41-20 win over the Crusaders last night at Aloha Stadium.
The Warriors started slowly, but gained confidence as the game wore on and capitalized on Crusader mistakes to improve to 2-0 in the ILH and 6-0 overall. St. Louis fell to 1-1 in the league and 2-2 overall.
"I am really happy for our kids; I'm elated for them," Kamehameha coach Kanani Souza said. "They worked very hard. It doesn't always turn out the way you work, but in this case it did and I'm so happy for our kids and our coaches."
The Kamehameha passing game riddled the St. Louis secondary all night as quarterback Caleb Spencer recovered from a shaky start to complete 15 of 28 throws for 282 yards and four touchdowns. Josh Vierra caught seven passes for 124 yards and three scores and Keoni Ruth racked up 110 yards and a touchdown as the Warriors answered each time the Crusaders threatened.
"We busted some coverages back there, we made enough mistakes to last a season in one game," St. Louis coach Delbert Tengan said.
"We had our chances early offensively, we were steady on defense and all of a sudden things kind of fell apart."
The game got off to a ragged start with both offenses sputtering most of the first quarter.
St. Louis got a jump start on Pase Fiaseu's interception of a Caleb Spencer pass. Three plays later, George lobbed a pass into the end zone for 6-foot-4 Desmond Hanohano, who grabbed it for a 3-yard touchdown connection to give St. Louis the lead.
But Kamehameha also used a turnover to spark its offense as linebacker Micah Lau recovered a George fumble to set up Travis Beyer's 9-yard run to tie the game.
But the Warriors' celebration was short-lived as BJ Batts took the kickoff and sprinted along the Crusaders' sideline for a 92-yard touchdown return to end the first quarter.
Kamehameha battled back with 3:33 left in the first half as Spencer hooked up with Vierra for a 43-yard touchdown pass.
The Warriors' defense struck again on St. Louis' next possession. Asti Merino picked off a George pass to give Kamehameha the ball at the St. Louis 40. A pass interference penalty on fourth-and-17 extended the Kamehameha drive and Spencer capitalized with a 13-yard strike to Vierra to give the Warriors a 19-14 halftime lead.
St. Louis drove to the Kamehameha 1 on its first drive of the second half, but left empty handed when George fumbled the snap on fourth down. Tamatoa Silva recovered to give the Warriors the ball at their own 7.
"That kind of took the wind out of our sails a little bit," Tengan said. "But if you're a good team you can't let that affect you, so obviously we're not a good team yet."
Spencer had to be assisted to the sideline after getting hammered at the St. Louis 1 on the Warriors' final drive. But Samson Castillo sealed the game with a 2-yard touchdown plunge with less than a minute left.
Although Kamehameha bolted ahead in the ILH race with last night's win, the Warriors know a rematch with the Crusaders looms at the end of the season.
"You have to take every game one at a time, and you have to work at getting better," Souza said. "Unless we get better, anybody can beat us."
At Aloha Stadium
St. Louis (1-1, 2-2) 14 0 6 0 -- 20 Kamehameha (2-0, 6-0) 7 12 7 15 -- 41 Stl--Desmond Hanohano 3 pass from Bobby George (Kaeo Adams kick)
Kam--Travis Beyer 9 run (Kepa Gaison kick)
Stl--BJ Batts 92 kickoff return (Adams kick)
Kam--Josh Vierra 43 pass from Caleb Spencer (kick failed)
Kam--Vierra 13 pass from Spencer (pass failed)
Kam--Keoni Ruth 71 pass from Spencer (Gaison kick)
Stl--Batts 10 run (kick failed)
Kam--Vierra 16 pass from Spencer (Kahe Santos pass from Spencer)
Kam--Samson Castillo 2 run (Gaison kick)RUSHING -- St. Louis: Justin Cabansag 14-67, Batts 7-24, George 5-(-41), Stanley Nihipali 1-(-5), Justin Kruse 2-4, Derrick Hohu 1-8. Kamehameha: Beyer 16-57, Spencer 7-33, Ruth 3-3, Santos 1-0, Castillo 5-1.
PASSING -- St. Louis: George 13-31-2-140, Nihipali 0-2-0-0. Kamehameha: Spencer 15-28-1-282.
RECEIVING -- St. Louis: Shane Butcher 1-(-1), Batts 2-22, Hanohano 1-3, Jon Amano 5-72, Jason Rivers 4-44. Kamehameha: Beyer 1-(-1), Ruth 4-110, Kahe Santos 3-49, Vierra 7-124.
Att. -- 6,470
Pac-Five 41, Damien 7: The Wolfpack defense registered two touchdowns as Pac-Five earned its first ILH Division II win of the season.
Sualata Siva Savini's 56-yard interception return for a touchdown gave Pac-Five an early 14-0 lead. Nick Miyamoto returned a Damien fumble 34 yards in the third quarter to end the scoring.
At Aloha Stadium
Damien (0-2, 1-2) 0 7 0 0 -- 7 Pac-Five (1-1, 2-3) 21 7 13 0 -- 41 Pac--McShane Dator 1 run (Darci Hata kick)
Pac--Sualata Siva Savini 56 interception return (Hata kick)
Pac--Ryan Leong 1 run (Hata kick)
Dam--Ranson Decosta 20 run (Decosta kick)
Pac--Brandyn McCall 24 pass from Dator (Hata kick)
Pac--Dennis Moku Pilialoha 1 run (kick blocked)
Pac--Nick Miyamoto 34 fumble return (Hata kick)RUSHING -- Damien: Decosta 4-27, Fehi Sevelo 7-25, Tevita Williams 6-(-21), Cory Mullen 17-129, Fuavaa Faualo 1-(-2), Brandon Baguio 1-6, Zachary Shimizu 2-(-18). Pac-Five: Gyles Lawrence 5-20, Leong 10-80, Dator 7-25, Pilialoha 1-1, Dave Stewart 7-29, Cheyne Abbey-Chong 5-4.
PASSING -- Damien: Williams 3-12-1-10, Shimizu 0-2-0-0. Pac-Five: Dator 12-32-0-168, Jordan Tani 0-1-1-0.
RECEIVING -- Damien: Faualo 1-1, Christopher Gaylord 1-5, Sevelo 1-4. Pac-Five: Leong 5-51, Ryan Urabe 3-68, Travis Tyler 3-25, McCall 1-24.
Punahou 7, Iolani 6: Stanley Fisher scored on a 9-yard pass from Drew Monahan with about four minutes left, and Toa Hackney's extra-point kick provided the difference.
The game between ILH rivals was a scoreless defensive battle until the Raiders' Samson Shigetomi picked up a Punahou fumble and ran 60 yards for a touchdown with 8:30 left in the fourth quarter.
Iolani running back Raynold Stowers ran well, but Punahou's defense held when it had to, Buffanblu coach Kale Ane said.
"Raynold was outstanding, he kind of controlled the tempo," Ane said. "But we bent but didn't break."
Iolani 0 0 0 6 -- 6 Punahou 0 0 0 7 -- 7 Iol -- Samson Shigetomi 60 yard fumble return (kick failed)
Pun -- Stanley Fisher 9 yard pass from Drew Monahan (Toa Hackney kick)
ILH
Division I W L T PF PA Kamehameha 2 0 0 91 27 St. Louis 1 1 0 69 41 Punahou 1 2 0 14 105 Division II W L T PF PA Iolani 2 1 0 57 34 Pac-Five 1 1 0 68 42 Damien 0 2 0 7 57
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