OIA Football
Punivai, Castle run over Kailua


Stacy Kaneshiro | ScoringLive
September 22, 2018, 12:12am

  


Fri, Sep 21, 2018 @ Castle [ 7:30 pm ]

Kailua

21

Castle

38

Final 1 2 3 4 T
Kailua (2-8-0) 7 0 14 021
Castle (5-7-0) 7 10 7 1438
Senituli Punivai 16 yd
Raynen Ho-Mook 109 yd 1 TD
Senituli Punivai 241 yd 3 TD
Brian Allen Kamanu 65 yd 1 TD

KANEOHE – Although injuries forced running back Senituli Punivai to play quarterback, that does not mean his role has changed.

Punivai rushed for 241 yards and three touchdowns and host Castle rolled over Kailua, 38-21, Friday night in Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I football.

The Knights (3-4 overall, 3-1 OIA) recycled four turnovers into TDs to beat their Windward rival Surfriders (1-6, 1-5).

"This is huge," Castle coach John Hao said. "Of course, this is a rival game. Kailua-Castle is always a good rival game and it's a good confidence-booster for our guys."

The night belonged to Punivai, who scored on runs of 12, 15 and 18 yards.

"We had Pono Kahala-Giron, we had Sam Judd and Austyn Acosta," Hao said of his quarterbacks at the outset of the season. "Austyn broke his collarbone, Sam, he had problems with this thumb, and Pono went to play safety. He's helping out in the safety department and that's good for us."

Punivai has been the QB since the third game of the season. He is up to the challenge of his new position.

"It's blessing," he said. "It's a big opportunity for the team, but it's doing my work every day and it pays off."

Punivai said his responsibilities are eased by Hao calling the reads from the sidelines.

"We've been lining him up on the field," Hao explained. "Instead of him making the reads, I make the reads and I make the call from the sidelines. I look at their defense and I help Tuli. It's just a matter of getting the signal from the coaches and executing the play."

Sometimes after a long run, Hao subbed out Punivai and let running back Bruce Pakele take some snaps. Pakele is a perfect counter to the elusive and fast Punivai. Pakele brings power to the offense; he scored Castle's other two TDs on 1- and 3-yard runs.

Punivai was just as lethal on pass plays, though not because of his passing (2 of 9 for 16 yards with two interceptions). Although he was sacked three times, he scrambled out of pressure for positive yardage more times. On some running plays, he would patiently wait for holes to develop before dashing through them for chunks of yards. But mostly, he was tough to contain.

"Containing the quarterback? Yeah," Kailua coach Joe Wong said. "There a lot of mistakes on the outside (containment)."

Mistakes were not limited to the defense. Castle turned two Kailua fumbles and two muffs – one on a punt and another on a kickoff – into four of its five TDs. One of those turnovers came right after the Surfriders got one from Castle.

"You can't turn over the ball right after the defense gets you the ball," Wong said. We just have to do a better job of taking care of the football."

Ironically, Kailua scored first after recovering a muffed punt by Castle at the Knights' 10. On fourth-and-goal, RB Brian Allen Kanamu scored on a 4-yard run. Miguel Alcaraz's PAT gave Kailua in what turned out to be a short-lived 7-0 lead.

Castle would score on its ensueing possession. Although backed to their own 15, a 56-yard run by Punivai on first down quickly got the Knights in Kailua territory to set-up Kanamu's 1-yard TD run with Cheyden Costa's PAT tying the game at 7 with four minutes, 38 seconds in the first quarter.

Castle took the lead early in the second quarter on Costa's 40-yard field goal to give Castle a 10-7 lead.

But Kailua lost a fumble that Castle turned into a 12-yard TD run by Punivai to make it 17-7 at the half.

It looked like Kailua was turning the momentum early in the second half when it scored on its first series on Lahaina Kane's 2-yard run to pull to 17-14. That was followed by an interception off Punivai by Kalena Hanawahine at the Surfriders' 5. But on first down, Kailua lost a fumble during the snap and Castle took over at the 6. Three plays later, Pakele scored from 3 yards to put Castle ahead, 24-14 with 3:25 in the third period.

Kailua answered quickly, scoring on its next series on a 23-yard TD pass from Raynen Ho-Mook to Kamryn Kahoonei to make it 24-21 with 1:55 left in the third period.

But a fourth-quarter muffed punt led to Punivai's 15-yard TD run and a muff on the ensuing kickoff by Kailua led to his 18-yard TD run to cap the scoring in the game.


Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].




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