OIA Football
Andres leads Leilehua in rout over Waipahu, 38-0


  



Fri, Sep 11, 2015 @ Leilehua [ 8:00 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Waipahu (1-7-0) 0 0 0 00
Leilehua (3-6-0) 11 17 7 338

WAHIAWA — After a 0-3 start, Leilehua is finally on the right track.

Konapiliahi Andres completed 19 of his 37 pass attempts for four touchdowns and a career-high 296 yards in the Mules' homecoming win over Waipahu, 38-0 in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Division game at Hugh Yoshida Stadium Friday night.

The Mules improved to 2-3 overall and 2-2 in league play as they picked up their second win in as many weeks. Waipahu suffered its third straight loss and dropped to 1-4.

"Credit goes to the kids," said Leilehua coach Nolan Tokuda. "Every time we lose games, it's on the coaches. When we win games, it's the players that executed. I'm just proud that they're finally pulling together from the adversity that they had to deal with."

Andres was the backup quarterback behind Kaleoaloha Piceno to start the season, but saw his first start in the Mules' league-opener against Kailua and was handed the reins when Piceno went down with a quad injury against the Surfriders.

"He's taught me a lot," Andres said on Piceno. "He's helped me and pushed me even though he was the starter and I was behind him, and even though he went down, he still supports me everyday. Every time I come off the field he's always helping me even though I'm starting, and I like that about him."

The sophomore signal caller made his presence known in the clutch, tossing all four of his touchdowns on third down.

"Credit goes to the offensive line," Tokuda said. "If it's a third down situation, everybody in the stadium knows that we're going to throw the football. If he had the time to throw it, that means the line did their job."

Andres' counterpart on the Marauders' sideline, Gavin Marques, was also a backup quarterback heading into the season. With a lot of offensive skill players out due to academics and team rules, Waipahu starting quarterback Blaise De Asis moved to slot and Marques made his first start of the year under center. 

The change in personnel did not have much efficiency. Marques was 9-for-24 passing for 74 yards and two interceptions and had several balls go off his receivers' hands on a stormy night.

"We felt best to put Blaise at slot and give Gavin a try at quarterback, and that's what we stuck with the entire week," said Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho. "I thought going in we would be okay, but obviously we have to look at some stuff and see what gives us the best chance to compete."

Leilehua also did a good job clamping down on Waipahu's Andrew Simanu, the state's leading receiver heading into this weekend. Simanu, who was coming off a 12 catch, 252-yard performance against Kaiser, was held without a catch against the Mules' first-string defense and finished with three catches for 30 yards.

"They had a safety over Andrew for most of the night so that kind of took away a lot of our favorite routes," said Carvalho. "I think last week they did a good job against Castle's No. 7 (Jeremy McGoldrick). They do a real good job at kind of shutting down the star receivers."

Leilehua won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, but got the first series of the game after Connor Murakami's onside kick. The Mules were able to drive into the red zone and nearly came away with a touchdown on their opening drive, but had to settle for a 32-yard field goal from Murakami after a holding penalty pushed them back.

The Mules were shaky offensively following the score and turned it over on downs on their next two possessions. A Waipahu fumble would set up Leilehua's first touchdown of the game. Two big runs up the middle by Hoaka Costorio Carvalho helped open the pass as Andres hooked up with Tyreek Keough for a 30-yard touchdown pass. Carvalho's 2-point run on the PAT gave Leilehua a 11-0 lead with 51 ticks remaining in the first quarter.

Leilehua picked up steam from there. Timely completions to slot Jadan Gilliland netted three Leilehua scores in the second quarter. Andres threw two scoring strikes to Anthony Ugalino and Murakami kicked a 23-yard field goal to give the Mules a 28-0 advantage at the break.

Gilliland, who was the male representative for the junior class in the homecoming court, caught an 80-yard touchdown pass from Andres early in the third quarter to put the 35-point mercy rule in effect. Murakami capped the Mules' scoring with a 40-yard field goal with under three minutes to play in the final period.

The Mules will host Kahuku next Saturday while Waipahu travels to Waianae Friday. 



Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].




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