Defensive tackle Austin Santos-Johnson and running back Algene Kelekolio each had big games in the Wildcats' first-ever state tournament win. ScoringLive photo illustration

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Co-Athletes of the Week:
Algene Kelekolio, Konawaena football
Running back Algene Kelekolio is the epitome of Konawaena football.

The 5-foot-6, 165-pound senior had his best game of the year to lead Konawaena to a 42-33 win over Damien in the first round of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II Football Championships last Saturday.

Kelekolio carried the ball 27 times for a season-high 263 yards rushing with three scores in the Wildcats' first-ever win in the state tournament.

"He relished the opportunity to come out and show what he had," said Konawaena first-year coach Brad Uemoto. "Not much people know about him, but he's been a tough runner for us all year."

The senior running back got his first taste of the state tournament two years ago when the Wildcats faced off with eventual champion Kaiser.

"Algene came up from the JV a few years back," said Uemoto. "He was that scrawny little kid that was just physical. He just attacked you and ran hard."

The senior running back's hard-nosed running has helped sophomore quarterback Austin Ewing have a spectacular season in 2015. Ewing has passed for 2018 yards and 26 touchdowns against five interceptions on a 55.5 completion percentage.

Uemoto says that Kelekolio runs hard no matter who is in front of him.

"He only knows one way and that's to go hard all the time," he said. "That's what gives him the edge. He's not afraid of anything and he just gets in there. You have two people holding him and he just keeps going and probably takes more blows than he should. Sometimes we tell him to run out of bounds, but he says' coach I like the contact.' That's Algene and we can't change that."

The Wildcats have traditionally been an undersized, scrappy team and this year is no different, using their speed to take down the Division I teams in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation.

Uemoto says that Kelekolio's style of play symbolizes what Konawaena football is about.

"These kids just have big hearts and he's a true resemblance to how these kids approach the game," he said. "To overachieve and play bigger than the stats will show, Algene is a true model of how we play."

Austin Santos-Johnson, Konawaena football
Austin Santos-Johnson was in the middle of everything Saturday night.

The junior defensive tackle matched Kelekolio's effort on the defensive end and made a game-high 14 tackles, six for losses, three sacks and forced a fumble in Konawaena's win over Damien.

"He kind of has the same attitude as Algene," Uemoto said on Santos-Johnson, who is 5-foot-9, 185-pounds. "Man if you ever put his heart, determination and fire into a 6-foot-2, 300-pound player, you probably have a NFL prospect.

"He has a motor. Play after play he's all over the place. It's like he plays angry. He's one of the players that you just have to say ‘thank God' we have him on our team."

Santos-Johnson has been a steady player for Konawaena all year long, and has averaged 10.3 tackles per game. His production did not diminish when defensive end Torin Tuppien missed a couple of early games in the season with an injury.

"I think Austin was the same from the very beginning," said Uemoto. "Even in our first game of the season he was a disruptive force. With Torin, teams can find out about him and go the other way and limit his impact.

"With Austin in the middle moving between the 1 and 3 tech, he's such a difficult matchup. Once he beats that guy in the middle, he's disrupting the whole offense."

The junior tackle's efforts helped the Wildcats' limit the effectiveness of the Monarchs' veer-option attack. Damien was held to 84 yards rushing and averaged 2.2 yards per carry and Konawaena was able to jump out a 39-12 lead after three quarters.

"When we started running the scout team offense against the first team defense, we tried to run the dive to mimic the offense and it was Austin in the middle disrupting that whole sequence," said Uemoto. "To hold them down to less than 100 yards rushing is a big feat against a option offense."

The Monarchs moved to a spread offense in the second half and was able to make it a six-point game before the Wildcats added a late Austin Ewing field goal for the final score, 42-33. Damien quarterback Marcus Faufata-Pedrina had 296 yards passing in the loss.

"When they were able to go to that passing offense, they could put more attention on Austin," said Uemoto. "But by double teaming him, it opened for other guys on the defensive line. If Austin is not making the tackle, he's doing something else for us such as that."

Konawaena will face Radford at Ticky Vasoncellos Field in the Division II semifinals Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 5 p.m.

FOOTBALL
Taje Akaka, Baldwin — Caught nine passes for 139 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Waianae

Kawena Alo-Kaonohi, Baldwin — Made six tackles, including three for losses, in a loss to Waianae

Bransen Apao, Damien — Caught two touchdown passes in a loss to Konawaena

Austin Ballesteros, Damien — Caught five passes for 153 yards in a loss to Konawaena

Shawn Borges, Damien — Made nine tackles, broke up a pass and had an interception in a loss to Konawaena

Mosiah Brame, Waianae — Made two tackles, intercepted a pass and broke up three others in a win over Baldwin

Grayson Bueno, Damien — Made nine tackles, including one for loss, in a loss to Konawaena

A.J. Burris, Mililani — Made 3 1/2 tackles, intercepted a pass and forced a fumble in a win over Hilo

Jeriah Cacal, Konawaena — Intercepted a pass and broke up three passes in a win over Damien

Donovan Defang, Lahainaluna — Rushed for a team-high 50 yards on 11 carries and made six tackles, including two for losses, in a win over Kaimuki

Austin Ewing, Konawaena — Threw for 218 yards with three touchdowns on 17-of-31 passing in a win over Damien

Marcus Faufata-Pedrina, Damien — Threw for 296 yards with three touchdowns on 15-of-30 passing and rushed for 50 yards with two more scores on 28 carries in a loss to Konawaena

Nau Filiai, Lahainaluna — Made five tackles, including three for losses, in a win over Kaimuki

James Gentile, Kaimuki — Made 8 1/2 tackles, including one sack, and recovered a fumble in a loss to Lahainaluna

Brandon Hattori, Waianae — Had three sacks and forced a fumble in a win over Baldwin

Cameron Howes, Konawaena — Made seven tackles, one for loss, and broke up two passes in a win over Damien

Noah Kealoha, Waianae — Made three tackles, including one sack, and recovered a fumble in a win over Baldwin

Scott Lam, Damien — Made 10 tackles and broke up a pass in a loss to Konawaena

Vavae Malepeai, Mililani — Rushed for 127 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries in a win over Hilo

Bille Masima, Kaimuki — Rushed for 173 yards on 42 carries in a loss to Lahainaluna

McKenzie Milton, Mililani — Threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns on 14-of-19 passing in a win over Hilo

Joey Nuuanu-Kuhiiki, Waianae — Had two sacks in a win over Baldwin

Courtney Paaga, Damien — Made a team-high 11 tackles, including three for losses, in a loss to Konawaena

Alexander Quijano, Waianae — Forced a fumble and broke up three passes in a win over Baldwin

Laakea Shim, Lahainaluna — Made a team-high eight tackles in a win over Kaimuki

Makana Tauai, Mililani — Caught six passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Hilo

Kaale Tiogangco, Hilo — Threw for 182 yards with two touchdowns on 14-of-30 passing and ran 11 times for 111 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Mililani

Bryson Ventura, Mililani — Caught two touchdown passes in a win over Hilo

Hyle Viela, Kaimuki — Made 8 1/2 tackles, including four for losses, in a loss to Lahainaluna