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Governors can’t
catch Mansanas
The Castle quarterback leads the Knights
to a 34-19 victory over Farrington
Louis Mansanas Jr. is a master of the sidestep and the waiting game.
The Castle quarterback nimbly tiptoed out of the way of Farrington pass rushers and connected with eight different receivers to lead the Knights past the Governors 34-19 in Oahu Interscholastic Association Red East Conference football last night at Aloha Stadium.
Mansanas completed 17 of 26 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns in front of 2,407. Many times, he waited until the last possible moment before letting passes go, leaving the Govs' defenders tuckered out and empty-handed. He was sacked only once, but paid the price by getting knocked to the ground after passes on a handful of occasions.
Mansanas, however, also threw three interceptions and gave way to backup Jordan Nakayama early in the second half.
"Louis did a credible job moving our offense," said Castle coach Nelson Maeda, whose team held off a furious Farrington second-half comeback. "But he had those three interceptions, and his decision-making wasn't the best. It's something we're looking for improvement on."
Castle (4-0, 5-1) meets Kahuku (3-0, 4-1) next Saturday. The winner will be alone atop the conference.
With less than a minute to go in the half, Mansanas rolled right and into what looked like imminent doom as four charging Governors pursued. The Knights' QB made it appear like he would continue running. Instead, he waited for Lihikai Domingo to break free and then hit the wide-open Domingo in the right corner of the end zone. The 16-yard TD strike gave Castle a commanding 21-7 halftime lead.
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Earlier, Mansanas faked a throw to the middle and then brought his hand back and instead fired one to Victor Clore in the right flat. Clore made it to the Farrington 9, but fumbled and the ball rolled to the Govs' 2. Fortunately for the Knights, Domingo scooped it up and ran into the end zone untouched for a 7-0 lead.
Mao Lefiti's fumble-causing hit and Tarann Bajet's recovery set up Mansanas' 3-yard TD run that made it 14-0 with 4:24 left in the half.
Running back Ameko Vaimasanuu's option pass to Alex Mendoza went for 22 yards and Farrington's only touchdown in the first 24 minutes.
In the second half, Castle's Ethan Gonsalves kicked field goals of 41 and 42 yards to keep the Governors (1-4, 1-2) from getting close.
Mansanas' 10-yard TD pass to Domingo and Gonsalves' first boot gave the Knights a comfortable 31-7 lead.
"Farrington is a team that can come back strong and they did by scoring two quick TDs," Maeda said.
Quarterback Eti Atonio, who completed 21 of 45 passes, directed the 2-minute drill with precision, finishing two drives with TD passes of 8 yards to Alex Mendoza with 9:11 left and then 4 yards to Tanner Fetui with 3:44 to go.
The Governors partially blocked a Knights punt deep in Castle territory with less than a minute to go, but four straight Atonio passes fell incomplete and time ran out.
Safety Kyle Marsom had three interceptions for Farrington, while James Sagapolutele and Neemia Tuua combined for the only sack of Mansanas. Tuua added a fumble recovery and also sacked Nakayama twice to help his team crawl back in it. The two teams tied 4-all in the turnover wars.
"We wanted to win it badly," Tuua said. "We wanted to do it and dedicate the win to all of our parents who were here for us and who support us by coming to all of our practices.
"He (Mansanas) was too fast -- very quick, but we missed our tackles a lot, too."
