By

POSTED: Saturday, October 04, 2008

This was your father's kind of football game.

Rock-hard defense and move-the-pile running were on display as Kapolei defeated visiting Mililani 20-17 in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Red West football game.

With a 20-14 lead entering the fourth quarter, the Hurricanes (5-3, 4-2) held off the charging Trojans (3-4, 3-2) to seal the victory.

“;This was the wild, wild West,”; Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said. “;We finally broke through against Mililani. We had been 0-4 against them. We made some costly errors and tried to give away the game, but we were able to survive with some tough 'D' when it counted.”;

Early in the fourth, Mililani drove all the way to the Kapolei 1 with a chance to take the lead, but a motion penalty moved the Trojans back and they settled for Cory Nakagawa's 22-yard field goal that made it 20-17 with 7:34 left.

Later, with 4:30 to go, a short Kapolei punt led to Nakagawa's 49-yard field-goal try but his chance to tie sailed wide left.

The Trojans had one more chance with the ball at their own 42 with 1:16 remaining, but were thwarted when quarterback Iosua Manuma fumbled and the Hurricanes' Shaydon Akuna recovered.

“;We lost so many opportunities on the field,”; Mililani coach Darnell Arceneaux said. “;It's discouraging because these Trojan men work so hard for it. I call them men because they're going through a lot of adversity. We had about five dropped passes on crucial downs. But we'll regroup. We were 0-3 and instead of hanging their heads, they've been resilient.”;

The Hurricanes had early leads of 6-0 and 12-7, but trailed 14-12 when Trojans receiver/running back Taz Stevenson scored his second touchdown of the night on a direct snap from 1 yard out. Stevenson's 51-yard kickoff return set up the score, and Manuma's scramble and 12-yard fourth-down pass to Sean Lai kept the drive going.

Kapolei went ahead for good late in the third quarter when Onosai Faumuina rumbled for gains of 22 and 15 to set up quarterback Noah Pascua's 3-yard touchdown run for a 20-14 lead.

Pascua didn't throw a pass all night as the Hurricanes instead relied on their bruising running game, which was led by Simione Vehikite, who carried seven times for 95 yards and a touchdown. Trent McKinney, another Hurricanes quarterback, only attempted one pass.

“;There was a lot of hitting and we stuck to running,”; Vehikite said. “;The intensity grew more and more as the game went on. I felt like we had them beat. I had faith in our defense.”;

Kapolei's only points in the first half came by way of its defense.

Chad Lopati flattened Manuma, forcing the ball to come loose and teammate Dustin Elisara scooped it up and sped 45 yards to break a scoreless tie with 3:05 left in the half. The Trojans' Jarren Pestana broke through the Kapolei line to block Micah Uehara's point-after try.

  At Kapolei

                                                                                                                                   

     

 

 

Mililani (3-4, 3-2)	0	7	7	3	-	17
Kapolei (5-3, 4-2)	0	6	14	0	-	20

Kapo-Dustin Elisara 45 fumble recovery return (kick failed)
Mil-Taz Stevenson 3 run (Cory Nakagawa kick)
Kapo-Simione Vehikite 6 run (pass failed)
Mil-Stevenson 1 run (Nakagawa kick)
Kapo-Noah Pascua 3 run (Seth Roman pass from Pascua)
Mil-FG Nakagawa 22

  RUSHING-Mililani: Kahi Perbera 8-36, Stevenson 9-34, Kekai Trout 5-32, Dylan Mopas 1-5, Trevor Lee 2-5, Iosua Manuma 5-(-17). Kapolei: Vehikite 7-95, Onosai Faumuina 7-43, Cyril Ontai 10-35, Pascua 7-30, Seth Roman 1-5, Trent McKinney 3-(-6).

PASSING-Mililani: Manuma 13-27-0-125, Stevenson 0-3-0-0. Kapolei: McKinney 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING-Mil: Stevenson 5-68, Sean Lai 2-15, Westin Alcover 2-15, Lee 1-11, Mopas 1-9, Geoffrey Badua 1-7. Kapolei: none.

Junior varsity-Mililani 19, Kapolei 6