Saint Francis outduels Pac-Five, 30-27

Bubba Akana's 20 yard pass to Micah Kalei in the fourth quarter helps lift Saint Francis to a come-from-behind win over Pac-Five, 30-27. Jim Lebeau | SL

Saint Francis rallied, then rallied again, in a 30-27 win over Pac-Five in ILH Division II action at Hawaiian Tel Federal Credit Union Field at Aloha Stadium Friday.

The Saints spotted the Wolfpack a twenty point lead in the second quarter, then turned to a punishing ground attack to take back the lead in the third before needing to mount a second comeback in the fourth quarter to eventually win the contest.

Bubba Akana connected with Micah Kalei on a 20-yard touchdown pass with 7:11 left in regulation on what would be the final score of the game, helping the Saints stay within a game back of division-leading Damien with two games to play.

Tyson Shimabukuro toted the rock 26 times for 153 yards and a score, and Wembley Mailei scored twice on the ground to go along with three two-point run conversions.

Pac-Five took to the air in the first quarter, taking a 13 point lead off of a pair of scoring strikes from Ryan Johnson to Travis Kaloa of 28 and 14 yards, respectively.

Johnson then connected with Matthew Hallastein on a 47 yard pass midway through the second quarter for his third touchdown of the evening to put the Saints in a 20-0 hole.

The Saints rallied via the ground game in the waning minutes of the second, getting a rushing score from 10 yards out by Wembley Mailei at the 3:20 mark and a 13 run to the end zone by Tyson Shimabukuro with just 1:42 on the clock. Mailei tacked on a two-point run on the point after on each of Saint Francis' second-quarter scores to trim the Wolfpack lead to just 20-16 heading into the half.

Mailei vaulted the Saints into the lead at the 9:33 mark of the third with his second rushing score of the night and tacked on another run conversion on the point after to make the score 24-20 Saint Francis.

Pac-Five answered back just minutes later on Johnson's fourth touchdown pass of the game, this one from seven yards out to Zion Shepherd, to edge the Wolfpack back ahead, 27-24.

The Saints put up 454 yards of total offense and outgained the Wolfpack 305 to 41 on the ground in the win.