Journey fails
to faze Mules
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii » The long trip east from Oahu to the Big Island for the opening round of the First Hawaiian Bank State Football Championships didn't appear to bother the Leilehua Mules. Neither did not receiving game film prior to last night's meeting that left Leilehua flying blind.
The Mules were a little slow out of the gate, but quickly gained focus en route to beating Kealakehe 28-7. Leilehua will move on to play Kahuku at Aloha Stadium on Friday at 5 p.m. The Red Raiders beat Leilehua in the Oahu Interscholastic Association semifinals 12-6.
"The whole trip in itself was a factor," Leilehua head coach Nolan Tokuda said. "The kids were off island and didn't get enough sleep. They were so excited before the game, but we finally settled down and started doing things right. I'm proud of them."
Despite the question mark at quarterback following a rib injury suffered by Leilehua's Bryant Moniz last week in the Mules' win over Castle and the absence of defensive anchor Vai Tamafuta, Leilehua put together an impressive performance in the air as Moniz shook off a rough start and managed to complete 20 of 36 passes for 167 yards.
Defensively, the Mules were concerned with containing Waverider standout Jinho Tohara. Tohara would be Kealakehe's main weapon, but could not repeat his 238-yard Big Island Interscholastic Federation title game performance, rushing for a respectable 108 yards on 27 carries last night and fumbling once.
"Jinho Tohara is a great back, and coach Sam Papali'i has done a good job with this team," Tokuda said. "They've had a great season. But our philosophy is that if 11 guys fly to the ball they won't get much and that's what we did with Tohara."
Early on it was Kealakehe that generated all the excitement for its home crowd. At the end of Leilehua's first possession, Derwin Breithaupt blocked the Mules' punt as the Waveriders took possession at the Leilehua 31-yard line.
But Kealakehe couldn't convert on a field goal try by Brant Sawada from 35 yards out.
Still, the Waveriders drew first blood.
On their next possession, Kealakehe punted, only to have Leilehua deep man Mason Edra lose the handle on the ball. Mikah Pada picked it up at the 28-yard line to give Kealakehe the short field once again. Three plays later, Eddie Lee found Bo Montgomery in the end zone to give the Waveriders a 7-0 first-quarter lead.
But the rest of the game belonged to the Mules, as Kealakehe would not score again.
Moniz, who went 2-for-8 to start the game, eventually found his rhythm and marched the Mules downfield to cover 68 yards in 13 plays for the tying score. He connected with Mene Coffin from 4 yards out to make it 7-7.
Leilehua struck again 5 minutes later when Justin Lawelawe got around the corner and danced into the end zone from 7 yards out. With 1:35 on the clock, Leilehua appeared to have shifted the momentum to take a 14-7 lead at the half.
On the Mules' first play from scrimmage of the second half, Moniz dropped a perfect pass into the hands of receiver Chustin Senas to extend the lead to two touchdowns at 21-7 with only 4 minutes gone in the third quarter.
The Mules added another score in the final 2 minutes when Lawelawe bolted for the end zone from 38 yards away following Kennedy Orteza's interception near midfield.
