Kapaa running back Kapena Texeira rumbled for 31 yards and a touchdown and added 5 1/2 tackles on defense in the Warriors win over the Monarchs. Brien Ing | SL

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Sat, Nov 12, 2016 @ Vidinha Stadium [ 2:30 pm ]

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Damien

14

Kapaa

21

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Damien (7-3-0)	0	0	7	7	14
Kapaa (8-2-0)	7	14	0	0	21

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Kurt Napoleon 0 yd

Marcus Faufata-Pedrina 201 yd 2 TD

Ryno Banasihan 45 yd 1 TD

Justice White 47 yd

LIHUE, Kauai — Top-seeded Kapaa held off Damien, 21-14 in the semifinals of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II Football State Championships at Vidinha Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Warriors (8-1 overall), the Kauai Interscholastic Federation champions, make back-to-back Division II title game appearances. Last year, Kapaa lost to Radford, 30-16. For the first time since 2006, there will be an all-Neighbor Island final as Kapaa faces Lahainaluna.

"It feels awesome and we're thankful for the opportunity. It's not easy. We're not happy just to get there. We know what's the price,' said Kapaa coach Philip Rapozo, on making a return to Aloha Stadium.

The Monarchs, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champions, end their season at 7-3 overall.

"It was a good season, we progressed and we won our state tournament game. But at the end of the day, we want to be in the championship game and we felt this was the team we could've done it with. I feel bad for our seniors, they don't have a chance, they played tough all year and carried us. I feel bad for those guys," said Damien coach Eddie Klaneski.

Following two passing touchdowns from Marcus Faufata-Pedrina, Damien trailed, 21-14 and brother Matthew Faufata-Pedrina came up with the fumble at the Kapaa 37 with 9:04 left in the fourth quarter. Justice White rushed to the 3 for a potential first-and-goal, but Akio Billy Tolenna recovered the fumble to prevent Damien from potentially tying the game.

"It was really big, they were close to scoring. I tried to help them push him back. I seen the ball right there, so I picked it up. I didn't hesitate, it felt really great recovering that ball," said Tolenna.

"We didn't have enough time to fight back. We had a chance to score and we fumbled the ball. Too many critical errors at critical times. We were on our way for tying the game and give them a lot of credit, they (Kapaa) was working as hard as us," said Klaneski.

Damien's defense held tough to force Kapaa to punt, however, the Monarchs turned it over on downs with 2:29 remaining. The Warriors handed the ball off to Kapena Texeira three times that forced Damien to use all their timeouts.

Damien defenders tried to poke the ball to no avail as Texeira rumbled for a 31-yard gain to the 16 with 2:08 left that allowed the Warriors to run out the clock.

"The coaches called the play and thanks to my o-linemen. I somehow broke it, but it was a pretty good run," said Texeira, the 5-foot-11, 250 pound senior.

Kapaa used a 14 play, 74 yard drive that consumed 6 minutes and 58 seconds on their opening drive after Texeira rushed for a 1-yard TD.

"We tried to keep it on the ground, something we know best," said Texeira, who also added 5 and 1/2 tackles.

Following a Damien punt, Ryan Banaishan gained 35 yards on two runs that set up his 2-yard score to put Kapaa up, 14-0. Banaishan rushed for a team-high 45 yards, his longest run was 24 yards.

"We gave them too many things in the beginning. We had way too many turnovers. Credit to Kapaa, they had a great game plan against us," said Klaneski.

Dylan Tapat recovered a backwards lateral. However, the Monarchs could not capitalize and later turned it over after Faufata-Pedrina threw an interception to Dustin Ramseyer-Burdett, who returned it 79 yards.

"Our philosophy is to fly around and go get the ball. Just go hard. We made some mistakes too and we were lucky to win the game," said Rapozo.

"Once we jumped out, the game plan changed and we decided to run, run, run. We didn't expect to be up, 21-0. We would run out the clock because they're explosive."

Kapaa's defense forced four turnovers—two interceptions and two fumbles recovered.

Damien got the ball back at 4:55 starting at their own 20. The Monarchs ran 16 plays that got them down to the Kapaa 2. On a fourth-and-goal, Faufata-Pedrina threw it to James Kapilioha Livingston-Lopez, who caught it, but the ref deemed he went out of bounds and came back in prior to catching the ball. As a result, the Monarchs turned it over on downs and Kapaa took a knee going into halftime.

The Warriors held a 21-0 lead at halftime.

"We started off really great. I told the team, the second half will be a whole new ball game. I know these guys (Damien) won't give up—they're battle tested. They do a heckuva job," said Rapozo.

Just like coach Rapozo predicted, the Monarchs strung together drives to get on the scoreboard.

Faufata-Pedrina threw a 25-yard score to Livingston-Lopez with 5:05 left in the third quarter to get the Monarchs on the scoreboard. Faufata-Pedrina threw for 201 passing yards, two TDs, and two interceptions.

After Clifton Oliver missed a 43 yard field, Damien traveled nine plays on 80 yards and cut the deficit to one score after Faufata-Pedrina threw a 13-yard TD to Shaun Apiki with 9:10 left in the fourth.

"We didn't execute well on both sides of the ball. We made adjustments on defense in the second quarter. We had too many turnovers. Our offense did a good job of fighting back and getting into the end zone. We just fell short at the end," said Klaneski.

Shawn Borges led the Damien defense with 11 tackles had two kick off returns for 52 yards.

The Monarchs were penalized 11 times for 93 yards, while the Warriors were flagged seven times for 45 yards.