[ HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL ]
BARRY MARKOWITZ / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
Kahuku's Toriano Taulogo returned a punt 62 yards in Friday night's Division I state title game vs. Saint Louis. The return set up the Red Raiders' winning TD with 19 seconds left.
2 classes meant
twice the thrills
The numbers were good: two First Hawaiian Bank State Football Championship games decided by a total of three points with 15,061 pushing through the turnstiles to watch historic events unfold.
But the numbers aren't nearly enough to tell the powerful stories of Kahuku and Aiea desperately searching for a way to come back -- and succeeding against the odds Friday night.
Nor do the numbers translate the emotions of Saint Louis and Damien ready to cash in on victories but instead settling for runner-up status, burned by late-game big plays.
Unless you were there to witness it and not just glimpsing the final score, there's no way you'll ever get a proper portrayal of the mood swings the Red Raiders and Na Alii went through. After rallying to take the lead, they had to withstand excruciating moments when it appeared as if it would all slip away.
The Division I nightcap had the promise of a tight struggle, but it didn't appear likely that it could match the opener -- Aiea's 9-7 victory over Damien in the state's first Division II championship game. But as it turned out, Kahuku's down-to-the-wire 27-26 victory over Saint Louis nearly made people forget the drama of the early game.
By many accounts, the D-I contest was Hawaii's most thrilling championship game in any state final or Prep Bowl (the state tournament precursor that ran from 1973 to 1998). People at yesterday's University of Hawaii game against Boise State were still buzzing about the unbelievable, improbable ending.
"Too bad more people didn't get to see it," said Randy Miyamoto, a stadium announcer and longtime observer of Hawaii football. "In five or 10 years from now, the people who were in attendance will be saying 'I was at that game.' "
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kahuku players celebrated with the state championship trophy after beating Saint Louis on Friday night at Aloha Stadium.
Leading 26-21, all the Crusaders needed was to keep the ball out of the hands of Red Raiders punt returner Toriano Taulogo and then stop Kahuku in the last half-minute. Instead, Taulogo made Saint Louis pay dearly, speeding around the right side for 62 yards to set up Darren Magalogo's winning 3-yard TD run with 19 seconds left.
"We were on the sideline, going over our 2-minute drill, thinking of what plays to run, with all the butterflies of knowing the game was coming down to the last couple of seconds," Kahuku wide receiver Spencer Hafoka said. "Tori -- he's a great player who makes things happen and he got it done."
But the Red Raiders couldn't relax and had to withstand two C.J. Santiago field-goal attempts in the final seconds. The first -- a 55-yarder -- was short. The second -- from 40 yards after a roughing-the-kicker call -- went wide right by about a yard. It didn't help Kahuku's fraying nerves that Santiago made four earlier attempts.
"I thought he was going to make the second one because I've seen him do it before, plenty of times," Hafoka said. "But there was a little feeling that remained, one of keeping the faith and that we still had a chance. When I saw it sway more to the right, it was all a feeling of relief, and all the stress was gone."
Earlier in the evening, Damien put a defensive stranglehold on Aiea and carried a 7-3 lead deep into the fourth quarter. But one play -- Kali Kuia's 34-yard post-pattern pass to Alden DeMello -- is all it took for Na Alii to take the lead and, eventually, the win.
"We're on cloud nine," Aiea coach Wendell Say said on his way out of the stadium while being congratulated every 10 yards by well-wishers in the stands. "It wasn't easy. Damien gave us one of the best defensive performances I've seen."
DeMello and his teammates couldn't rest easy after his TD with 4:43 left. They watched the Monarchs' Ranson DeCosta bolt 97 yards on the ensuing kickoff for what appeared to be a go-ahead score. But the play was called back on a holding penalty.
"When he ran it back all the way, I was thinking, 'Holy moly,' " DeMello said.
The Monarchs met privately in their locker room for about an hour after the game.
"We let all the seniors get up and talk to the team and have their say after this final game," Damien co-head coach Dean Nakagawa said. "I also told them that they're winners with nothing to be ashamed of and that I love each and every one of them.
"In about a week, they're going to remember all the good things about this season."
It took years of toil and persuasion for Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive director Keith Amemiya to push a two-division state football tournament through. He even offered his own money to guarantee that the D-II portion would at least break even.
At this point, it looks as though all that work and risk of personal financial strain was worth it. Still, the D-II tournament was a one-year deal that must be approved again by the state's athletic directors in June to continue.
"It's a tremendous sense of relief and satisfaction regarding the Division II playoffs," said Amemiya, who doesn't have the final financial numbers yet but called the new D-II tournament a success whether it makes money, breaks even or loses money. "It feels good to have had a part in bringing joy and excitement to schools who ordinarily wouldn't have the opportunity to compete at the state level. The corporate support and that of the community in general have been amazing."
The state got two memorable contests. Kahuku returned to its pedestal of state prominence in "The Game of the New Millennium." Aiea, meanwhile, entered the books as the first school to win a state championship aside from the Red Raiders or Crusaders, showing the path other less-prominent football programs can take if the ADs want to give D-II a future.
Tokuda named Leilehua coach
Leilehua has named Nolan Tokuda head varsity football coach.He replaces Jake Kawamata, who resigned at the end of the season to devote more time to his family. The Mules went 2-5 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red West Conference, 3-5 overall. Kawamata was the OIA Coach of the Year in 2002.
Tokuda, a counselor at Leilehua, led the junior varsity team to a 17-5 record the past two seasons.
