Ingalls, Dannaway shine
for Punahou
The Kauai Red Raiders scored first and last but stumbled in between as they fell 35-12 to the host Punahou Buffanblu yesterday in a preseason contest marked by turnovers.
Kauai sophomore linebacker Kevin Holtzman's recovery of a Punahou bad exchange 2 minutes and 39 seconds into the first quarter put the Red Raiders in position to strike first. Senior quarterback Kekoa Crowell completed his first two passes for 30 yards and senior running back Brian Rodriguez added a 29-yard run to bring Kauai to the goal line. From there, Crowell plunged in with 6:49 left in the first for a 6-0 lead that was followed by a missed extra point.
Following a fumble recovery by Punahou junior defensive end Jonathan Overton with 2:10 left in the opening quarter, the Buffanblu drove 25 yards in seven plays and took a 7-6 lead when junior quarterback Justin Ingalls punched in from a yard out on fourth and one.
Punahou never trailed again.
Despite an interception in the end zone by Kauai senior linebacker Dominic Elvenia, the Buffanblu took a 14-6 lead into halftime after an 11-yard touchdown pass from Ingalls to senior wide receiver Brian Matsumoto with 1:48 left in the second quarter. Ingalls went 25-for-36 for 251 yards and four touchdowns -- three passing, one rushing.
"I thought he played well," Punahou coach Kale Ane said. "It was a good opportunity for him to get his feet wet and see things under live game-like conditions."
While there were quality performances by such players as Punahou's junior slotback Steven Dannaway, who amassed 154 total yards -- 84 receiving and 70 rushing -- and two touchdowns, and Kauai's Brian Rodriguez, who rushed 13 times for 87 yards, both coaches were more focused on correcting mistakes and fine-tuning their teams for the league season.
"I wasn't pleased with our performance, we missed two opportunities to score in the first half and our center-quarterback exchange put us in a hole in the second half," Kauai coach Keli'i Morgado said. "There were a lot of mistakes to learn from, but the effort was there, we finished strong, and we can always build on that."
Ane said Punahou has some building to do, too.
"We're happy we won, but there are a lot of things to work on," Ane said. "It's early, we have a lot of guys who are hurt, so we haven't had the whole team together yet. We're lucky we have two more preseason games to play to help us prepare for the ILH, but we have to work hard, and the kids know they have to do better than they did today."
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Punahou 35, Kauai 12
At Alexander Field
Kauai (0-1) 6 0 0 6 -- 12 Punahou (1-0) 7 7 14 7 -- 35
Kau--Crowell 1 run (kick failed)
Pun--Ingalls 1 run (River Kim kick)
Pun--Ingalls to Matsumoto 11 pass (River Kim kick)
Pun--Ingalls to Kim 17 pass (River Kim kick)
Pun--Ingalls to Dannaway 13 pass (River Kim kick)
Pun--Dannaway 47 run (River Kim kick)RUSHING--Kauai: Rodriguez 13-87, Elvenia 1-8, Crowell 6-5. Punahou: Dannaway 4-70, Solomona 6-32, Johnson 1-13, Ingalls 3-(-2).
PASSING--Kauai: Crowell 11-29-1-158, Rule 0-1-0 0. Punahou: Ingalls 25-36-3-251.
RECEIVING--Kauai: Andres 2-45, Lopez 1-39, Jasper 1-30, Cadiente 2-17, Kalili 1-9, Buza 1-8. Evenia 1-5. Punahou: Dannaway 10-84, Kim 6-82, Matsumoto 4-39, Lee 2-29.
