Turnovers doom Kahuku in loss to Mater Dei

Brian Bautista | SL

SANTA ANA, Calif. — The No. 1 team from Hawaii was no match for the No. 1 team in the country.

Turnovers plagued Kahuku's offense all night long as Mater Dei dominated the night in a 55-8 Saturday win at the Santa Ana Bowl.

The Monarchs recorded an interception, recovered a fumble and forced a turnover on downs on the Red Raiders' first three drives. Ramere Davis also scored on a fumble return and Daryus Dixson returned an interception to the house for Mater Dei's final points of the game.

In total Mater Dei came away with four interceptions, recovered two fumbles and forced two turnover on downs against Kahuku.

Kahuku punts. Wait. It's a fake! The punter looking to throw ends up throwing short to the receiver. MD starts on the Kahuku 47 yard line.
— Mater Dei Football (@MDFootball) September 10, 2023

"Tonight, obviously we didn't execute the way we wanted to," said Kahuku coach Sterling Carvalho. "Against the No. 1 team in the nation, you cannot make mistakes. They will exploit every single mistakes and you cannot turnover the ball. All year long we've been really good on not turning the ball over, but tonight we had fumbles, we had interceptions. Just sloppy football."

Kahuku avoided the shutout on Tulilele Tagovailoa-Amosa's touchdown late in the second quarter. Tagovailoa scored on a naked boot leg around left end from 15 yards out and Kaimana Carvalho punched in the 2-point conversion to make the score 34-8 with 45 seconds left in the first half.

But the Monarchs scored in record time on Elijah Brown's TD pass to Marcus Brown with 14 seconds remaining to give Mater Dei a 41-8 lead at the break.

Elijah Brown threw for four scores in the win, with two of his scoring passes going to Marcus Brown.

"It was a very humbling experience and we're very grateful for Mater Dei for allowing us to play this game," said coach Carvalho. "It allows us to get better, it allows us to go back to the drawing board and pay attention to detail and make sure that against great teams like this, you cannot make mistakes."

#27Crowder comes up with the interception and runs the clock out. Game over. MD defeats Kahuku 55-8. Great game Monarchs, and what an awesome crowd. Kahuku fans made the travel and filled the most of the stands. #MDFootball #3Stripes
— Mater Dei Football (@MDFootball) September 10, 2023

The Red Raiders return home next Saturday to host another nationally-ranked team in St. John Bosco, who was ranked third in MaxPreps' latest poll.