Campbell running back Austin May had a game-high 96 yards on 15 carries with a score in a win over Leilehua. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Fri, Oct 17, 2014 @ Leilehua [ 7:30 pm ]

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Campbell

20

Leilehua

14

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Campbell (7-4-0)	7	0	7	6	20
Leilehua (6-2-0)	0	14	0	0	14

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Kalanimoku Pauole 135 yd

Ezra Savea 54 yd 1 TD

Toma Savea 27 yd 1 TD

Austin May 96 yd 1 TD

Tyreek Keough 37 yd

Jayce Bantolina 44 yd 1 TD

WAHIAWA - No matter how hard Campbell tried to give the game away, its defense just would not let it happen.

Behind a relentless defense, the No. 8 Sabers stunned No. 7 Leilehua, 20-14, Friday night in a quarterfinal of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I football tournament at Hugh Yoshida Stadium.

The Sabers (7-2) advance to the semifinals Thursday at Aloha Stadium. They will meet up again with No. 2 Mililani, a 54-14 winner against Kaiser in another quarterfinal. During the regular season, the Trojans beat the Sabers, 57-28, at Campbell. Last year, the Sabers lost to Farrington, 7-0, in the semifinals, but won the third-place game against Kahuku, 28-7, to gain its first Division I state berth. The OIA has three state berths in Division I.

The Sabers kept the high-powered Mules' offense scoreless in the second half, despite several threats with favorable field position.

"The defense has been kind of the heart and soul of our team," Campbell coach Amosa Amosa said. "They've kept us in most of our games, so I'm proud of our defensive staff, our defensive players. It was not easy to prepare for Leilehua with the weapons they have. I'm so happy for my boys. They're moving on."

Linebacker isaiah Gibson and defensive lineman Tristan Ludiazo each registered a sack and combined on another. Lineman Josiah Mageo also had a sack. Zibrex Cabel and Dylan Villanueva came up with key interceptions.

"Just playing together as a team, play for each and everyone of us," Gibson said. "We played together as a team, we fought as a team. It paid off."

Gibson downplayed his sacks.

"It wasn't just me," he said. "It was my linemen, my linebackers. It was the whole defense."

The Mules owned a 14-7 lead at the half before the Sabers tied it at 14 with 6:29 left in the third quarter following a Mules' fumble at the Sabers' 35. Four plays later, running back Austin May zig-zagged this way to 38-yard TD run. Kona Reiny-Aloy's PAT tie the game at 14.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Mules managed only a 25-yard punt, giving Campbell the ball at the Mules' 40. Campbell kept the ball on the ground for six consecutive plays, scoring on RB Jenesus Tago-Sue's 10-yard run. Reiny-Aloy missed the PAT to keep the score 20-14.

The lead was looking like it would be short-lived, as Deshaun Osborne returned the ensuing kickoff 61 yards to the Campbell 15.

After an incomplete pass and a spot-foul holding penalty that totaled 15 yards lost, Mageo sacked Kalanimoku Pauole for a 10-yard loss and Ludiazo followed with a sack of minus-14 yards. The Mules faced fourth-and-49 from their 46 and punted.

The Sabers were forced to punt on their next series and Leilehua's Austin Molina returned it 23 yards to Campbell's 36. This time, Villanueva's interception was returned 58 yards to the Mules' 8 with 2:25 left in the game.

"I drove in the receiver because he was going in," Villanueva said. "I read the slot coming out. I read the quarterback's eyes at the same time. When the ball was in the air, I just played the ball and got it."

The stubborn Mules' defense set back the Sabers with negative yardage on the first two plays with both times, the Sabers recovering their own fumbles. On third-and-goal from the 14, it appeared RB Terell Johnson fumbled and a Mule picked up the ball and started running toward the end zone. But the officials ruled the play at stopped before the apparent fumble.

"It's more what you hear," Tokuda said. "They stopped forward progress, but it's a fumble if you don't blow the whistle. If you stop forward progress and don't blow the whistle and all of a sudden he breaks it, they'll give it to him. We didn't hear a whistle when our guy broke out of the pile and started running. About five, six, seven yards out of the pile, we heard the whistle. It's hard to say. We'll watch the video and listen for the whistle."

The Sabers ended up trying a 37-yard field goal, which was blocked and Leilehua took over from its 33. But after a five-yard gain on a first-down pass, Pauole threw two incomplete passes. On fourth down at the Leilehua 38, Mageo stopped Pauole after a one-yard gain with 33 seconds left. The Sabers killed the rest of the clock by taking a knee.

Just before the half, when Anterrio Gainwell returned an interception 48 yards for a touchdown off Ezra Savea to snap a 7-all game with 32 seconds left in the half. It was beginning to look like the Mililani loss all over again. In that game, the Sabers saw their 14-7 lead disappear when the Trojans returned an interception for a touchdown.

"Right before the half, it was feeling like the Mililani game," Amosa said. "But what happened at the half, our team went in (angry). I was (angry). We had a play called, a play we do everyday to get the five yards. Our play was open, but it's just that Ezra didn't see and made that ill throw."

The Sabers scored first on their second series of the game. A 23-yard punt by Leilehua gave the Sabers possession at the Mules 42. Six plays later, Savea hit Jayce Bantolina for a 12-yard TD pass to put Campbell ahead, 7-0, with 7:25 in the first quarter.

The Mules, who had lost the ball on downs at the Sabers' 11, started their next series at their 49. Seven plays later, Toma Savea rushed for a 4-yard TD and Jadan Gilliland's PAT tied the game at 7 with 9:19 left in the half.

Leilehua (6-2) had its opportunities, but its offense was constantly denied by the Sabers' defense. Besides not cashing in on the long kickoff return and a punt return inside Sabers' territory, the Mules failed to cash in on a 17-play, 6:31 drive that was stopped at the Sabers' 11 early in the game. Tokuda spent a lot of time after the game consoling his players' broken hearts.

"It's hard," Tokuda said. "You can't blame one player, you can't blame one play. This wasn't' meant to be tonight. Hats off to Campbell. They did what they needed to do to put one more (score) up on us….The hardest thing is the hours spent with these guys, the bond you built, not just for football, but for life, that's the part that hurts a lot."