OIA Football
Kahuku holds off Leilehua to reach Red title game


   



Fri, Oct 28, 2011 @ Aloha Stadium [ 4:30 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Kahuku (12-1-0) 0 6 3 09
Leilehua (10-2-1) 0 0 7 07
Kenan Sadanaga 222 yd 1 TD
Viliami Livai 99 yd 1 TD
Cole DeCorte 13 yd
Aofaga Wily 227 yd
Mikeli Fiso 37 yd 1 TD

HALAWA - Even Kahuku football coach Reggie Torres couldn't help but laugh. Special teams - an area that has been costly over the years for the Red Raiders - came through in the clutch.

Kekahu Aluli's 38-yard field goal in the third quarter proved to be the difference Friday night as Kahuku held off Leilehua, 9-7, in a semifinal game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Division Tournament.

A crowd of about 7,500 at Aloha Stadium watched the Red Raiders, ranked third in the ScoringLive/OC16 Football Power Rankings, improve to 9-1 and advance to next week's championship game. Kahuku will play Farrington Friday night for the league title and a first-round bye in the upcoming state tournament. Leilehua, the second-ranked team in the state, suffered its first loss of the season to fall to 8-1-1.

"It was an exciting game, but someone had to lose, unfortunately," Torres said. "Leilehua did a great job, hats off to them, too. It was a great defensive battle."

The Red Raiders, who were led by running back Aofaga Wily's 227 rushing yards, scored on the final play of the first half to take a 6-0 lead into the locker room and extended their lead on Aluli's 38-yarder before the Mules' lone touchdown late in the third quarter made it a two-point game.

"We were fortunate to come out on top. We had a field goal - a field goal - a miracle," said a smiling Torres, whose team fell 14-13 to Farrington on a botched PAT three weeks ago.

Leilehua's vaunted aerial offensive attack moved the ball against the Kahuku defense, but was unable to put up points. The Mules, who entered the game averaging over 35 points and 339 offensive yards per game, were held to 246, including just 13 rushing yards.

"They're a great passing team, but our coach demanded us to come up and make some plays," said Kahuku defensive back Evan Ramirez, who intercepted two passes. "It was our athletes against theirs and we just had to go all out. Our team really wanted it."

Both offenses struggled in the first half as the teams combined for six punts and two turnovers on downs in the first two quarters.

A Leilehua fumble inside the final minute was recovered by Kahuku's Toiva Tufaga at the Red Raiders' 39-yard line. Five plays and two first downs later, quarterback Viliami Livai unleashed a deep pass down the left side of the field and Mikeli Fiso snatched it from two Mules' defenders in the end zone with no time left on the clock. However, the extra point was no good and Kahuku led, 6-0, at the intermission.

"We knew that we had to just come out (in the second half) and work hard to finish more drives and play with heart," said Wily, who had 144 rushing yards by halftime.

After Leilehua went three-and-out to open the third quarter, Kahuku manufactured a 12-play, 45-yard drive that culminated with Aluli's field goal - just his third of the season. The drive was extended by two third-down conversions - an 11-yard pass from Livai to Spencer Nagy and a 13-yard Livai scramble - to set-up Aluli's kick.

The Mules' answered on their ensuing drive, going 53 yards on six plays, capped by Kenan Sadanaga's 1-yard touchdown pass to Russell Siavii. The PAT was good by Timothy Momiyama to make the score, 9-7, after three quarters.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Red Raiders were stopped on a fourth-and-1 and Leilehua took over at its own 3. However, Sadanaga was picked off by Ramirez on the very next play.

Kahuku was unable to sustain its drive and punted away to the Mules, but three plays into their drive, Ramirez recorded his second interception. Sadanaga's pass was tipped by his intended receiver - Mikal Peyton - and fell into the hands of Ramirez, a 5-foot-11, 163-pound senior.

"I have to thank the defensive linemen and linebackers for doing their job on the play and putting pressure on the quarterback before he threw the ball," Ramirez said.

Leilehua got the ball back with 2:56 to play after Kahuku turned it over downs at the Mules' 8. Sadanaga completed four passes early in the drive to get his team to the Red Raiders' 43, but four straight incompletions ended Leilehua's scoring threat and Kahuku ran out the clock to end the game.

Sadanaga finished 24-of-43 passing with 222 yards and three interceptions. Wide receiver Jeremiah Andrade had a game-high 10 receptions for 103 yards.

Kahuku, which finished second in the Red East behind Farrington, beat Leilehua last year in the OIA semifinal round, but forfeited the championship game to Mililani due to the use of an ineligible player and saw its season come to an abrupt end.

"It feels very good, we're still hungry and we want to finish on top this time," Ramirez said.

Leilehua, the Red West champion, will play Campbell in the third-place game next Saturday. The winner will receive the OIA's final state tournament berth.

It was the fourth time that Kahuku has beaten Leilehua in the semifinals since 1993.


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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