Kapolei shuts down Castle, 34-0

Kapolei forced two fumbles against Castle, inlcuding this one by Bryson Hughes (28), with some help from Jaymin Sarono (32) in on the stop. Greg Yamamoto | SL

KAPOLEI — Leonard Lee passed for 216 yards and four touchdowns and the defense did the rest as Kapolei turned back Castle, 34-0, in a first-round game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Tournament Friday night.

The Hurricanes racked up 363 yards of total offense and posted their third consecutive shutout to improve to 4-4 on the year. Kapolei, the fourth-place team out of the Blue Division, will visit Red top seed Kahuku in a quarterfinal matchup next weekend.

"Anytime you get a shutout, it's a great thing for us," Hurricanes' coach Darren Hernandez said.

Castle was limited to just 148 yards of total offense, including minus-49 rushing yards. Kapolei recorded three sacks, four takeaways and held the Knights to just 4 of 16 on third-down conversions.

Quarterback Willie Ewaliko completed 25 of his 44 pass attempts for 186 yards to lead the Castle offense. He threw for 177 yards in the first half, but completed just two of his 12 second-half throws. The Knights managed just 29 offensive yards after halftime.

"I thought in the first half (Castle) did a great job of finding some soft zones," Hernandez said. "I think the quarterback must have had about 20 completions in the first half, so we made some adjustments at halftime and we were able to put more pressure on the quarterback and get a lot more sacks and pressure in the second half, so I think that was really a big thing for us."

It was the defense that got the scoring started late in the first quarter. Castle was in the midst of a 12-play, 57-yard drive when Ewaliko turned it over due to some confusion on a 4th-and-1 from the Hurricanes' 6-yard line.

The play was a run-option with Ewaliko and running back Ryan Mohika. However, Mohika broke left on the snap and Ewaliko ran to the right. With a defender closing in on him, Ewaliko pitched the ball to his right, but Mohika was nowhere to be found and Kapolei's Ronald Matautia scooped up the loose ball. He ran it back to near midfield before pitching it back to Malik Smith, who ran the rest of the way on the 65-yard fumble return for a touchdown.

"I saw the quarterback looking to (pitch) the ball to somebody, but he couldn't see anything so he just (pitched) it out of hope that someone was behind him and then I saw Ronald read it, go pick up the ball and once I saw that, I saw that he wasn't going to outrun the quarterback," said Smith, a senior defensive back. "He started wrapping him up, so as I was sprinting down I started calling Ronald's name and then he heard me and he pitched to me and after that it was a touchdown."

Castle coach Nelson Maeda didn't put the blame on any one player, but said it was a matter of miscommunication.

"The running back went one way and the quarterback went the other and the quarterback just assumed that the running back would be there, so it's an error on everybody's part," Maeda said.

The Knights marched into the red zone again on their next possession, but fumbled after a short completion on the 11th play of the drive. Jay Amina recovered the fumble for Kapolei, which recycled the turnover into a touchdown on a 39-yard pass from Lee to Jaymin Sarono six plays later. The PAT was no good and the Hurricanes held a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Just before halftime, Lee found Ty-Noah Williams on a wide receiver screen pass that went for 18 yards and a touchdown to cap a 10-play, 80-yard drive that included a pair of third-down conversions.

Kapolei held a 20-0 lead at the intermission, which held until the second play of the fourth quarter, when Lee hooked up with Kepa Kaina on a 20-yard touchdown pass. The score was set-up by a Bryson Hughes interception of Ewaliko.

Castle turned it over again on the ensuing kickoff when Hughes forced a fumble that was recovered by teammate Keoni Taylor at the Knights' 15. Three plays later, Lee threw his fourth touchdown on a 1-yard pass to L.J. Esperas. Harrison Wright tacked on the PAT to close out the scoring.

Lee, a sophomore who was making his second consecutive start in place of injured starter Panaewa Julius (hip/groin), was gracious about his productive night.

"That was all because of the offensive linemen giving me time and receivers coming up with balls," said Lee, who completed 17 of his 28 pass attempts and found eight different pass catchers. "I had a great week of practice and that's a credit to them, that's all them."

Kapolei has now won four of its last five games. Castle, which finished fifth in the Red Division, finishes its season at 2-6.

Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].