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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveOctober 30, 2021, 11:24pm
Sat, Oct 30, 2021 @ Waialua [ 6:00 pm ]
WAIALUA — Kalani set the tone early and never skipped a beat Saturday night.
The Falcons found the end zone on their fourth play from scrimmage en route to a 30-7 win over host Waialua in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II game at Toshiyuki Nakasone Field.
A crowd of about 250 fans saw Kalani (2-1) amass a season-high 480 yards of total offense, including 333 through the air from senior quarterback Logan Lim, to notch its second straight victory.
"Yeah, the whole team did great," said Lim, who completed 22 of his 30 pass attempts without an interception. "We were just executing play by play, just the penalties costed us, but defense did good, they did great tonight."
The Falcons got three takeaways from their defense, including two interceptions by Jayden Chang. They held the Bulldogs to just 91 net yards in the first half and 228 for the game.
"Our defense did a helluva job. They've been working really hard and the amount of time that they put in, they make it hard for us in practice," said Kalani coach Scott Melemai, who is also the team's offensive coordinator.
Kalani's defense was tested right off the bat when Waialua went for it on fourth-and-3 at the Falcons' 42-yard line, but failed to convert and turned it on downs.
That gave Lim and the offense the ball near midfield. They went with a no-huddle, uptempo offense and picked up chunks of 17 and 13 yards on passes from Lim to Noah Uchida to set-up Noah Ah Sam's 24-yard, over-the-shoulder touchdown catch from Lim just 62 seconds after their gained possession.
"That set the whole entire game for us," Lim said of the opening drive. "Scoring the early touchdown, just getting the lead and momentum, that was big."
Melemai said the first drive was indicative of the week of practice his team had leading up to Saturday's game.
"We prepared well for this week and I think that's helped out to see what was open and make the adjustments on the fly and put tempo on them," he said.
Lim capped the Falcons' fourth drive with his 9-yard scramble for a touchdown. That score came with 3:37 left in the first half and just two plays after Lim hooked up with Ah Sam for a 12-yard pick-up to convert on third-and-four.
Kalani built upon its 14-0 halftime lead with a safety a few minutes into the second half, when a number of Falcons closed in on Waialua quarterback Kawika Benz for a sack in his own end zone.
The Falcons capitalized on the ensuing possession as well. They got a 29-yard return of the free kick from Uchida. Eight plays later, Uchida turned the corner around left end on a 6-yard touchdown run with 5:21 left in the third.
Lim and Ah Sam connected for three pass completions on the scoring drive — two of which resulted in first downs. The pair played pitch and catch for a 5-yard pick-up to convert a fourth-and-3 just two plays before the Uchida TD run.
"We practice this ever since we were freshmen and I think we just have that QB-one—receiver-one connection," Lim said.
Ah Sam hauled in 12 receptions for 144 yards, while Uchida caught nine passes for 175 yards.
Melemai said it was good to see Ah Sam have a productive game after working his way back from an ankle injury.
"It was real good. Noah, I think the first week, he hurt his ankle, so he's now trying to work his way back in and we're try to get him the touches, along with everyone else," Melemai said.
Kalani also found success with its run game and senior Josh Oh — who carried 20 times for 102 yards — and averaged 4.5 yards per rush as a team.
"I think we put a lot of emphasis on our line and running game and try to establish that and against teams that's where we try to get that going and then our passing situation that we try to go on to."
Oh's 1-yard TD run with 3:30 left in the game closed out the scoring. It capped a 79-yard drive and came seven plays after Chang's second interception off of Benz.
"The defense did great," Lim said. "They had two picks, multiple stops, only let (Waialua) score seven points; they did just an amazing job tonight."
Waialua (1-2) dropped its second straight game despite a season-high 228 yards of total offense. Benz finished 14-of-26 passing for 175 yards; he also ran 13 times for 46 yards in the loss.
James Zara caught four passes for 71 yards. His 9-yard TD pass from Benz late in the third quarter was Waialua's only touchdown Saturday.
Kingston Pascual registered a pair of sacks for the Bulldogs defensively.
Jordan Amalato also had an interception for Kalani, which racked up 24 first downs — 14 of them by pass.
The Falcons were 4 of 11 on third downs and 2 of 3 on fourth downs, while 2 of 7 on third downs and 0 for 2 on fourth downs.
The teams combined for 30 penalties: Waialua drew 10 flags — including four for false starts and another four for encroachment — for 60 yards, while Kalani was penalized a whopping 20 times for 190 yards, including five personal fouls.
"We were lucky to win this game (in spite) of that," Melemai said.
Kalani will play McKinley (0-2) Saturday at Kaiser Stadium, while Waialua is on bye next week and will next play on Nov. 13, when it hosts Kalaheo (0-3).
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