Damien's Syles Choy and Kealii Kaanapu celebrate after a two-point conversion against Pac-Five. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Pac-Five's Jared Kanoa picks off a pass against Damien. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Pac-Five's Roycen Routt hurdles a teammate on a reception against Damien. Evan Asato | SL

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Damien's DJ Aumua carries the ball in traffic against Pac-Five. Evan Asato | SL

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Pac-Five quarterback Andrew Canencia scrambles outside the pocket against Damien. Evan Asato | SL

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Damien's Trevor Caspillo makes a pass reception for a touchdown against Pac-Five. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Sat, Oct 19, 2013 @ Aloha Stadium [ 4:45 pm ]

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PAC-5

28

Damien

35

Final	1	2	3	4	T
PAC-5 (1-8-0)	7	6	15	0	28
Damien (4-6-0)	6	21	0	8	35

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Syles Choy 245 yd 1 TD

Anthony Canencia 380 yd 4 TD

Leeland Lauti 89 yd

Roycen Routt 34 yd

Kealii Kaanapu 114 yd 1 TD

Roycen Routt 206 yd 2 TD

Fighting for a spot to meet 'Iolani in the Division II Interscholastic League of Honolulu's postseason championship, Damien held off Pac-Five, 35-28 on the last second and the last play of the game at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.

"We knew they were a lot better and they got a bunch kids back," said Damien coach Eddie Klaneski on Pac-Five. "They got better when we played them the first time, and we appreciate those guys because they play really hard and fought back to take back the lead as you can see in the second half. We had to fight back tooth-and-nail all the way to the last play of the game. They are a tough squad and well coached, so we were glad to get through this game."

Trailing 28-27 for most of the fourth quarter and after a Pac-Five three-and-out, the Monarchs started on their own 11-yard line. Facing a third-and-two on their own 30-yard line, Damien quarterback Syles Choy passed it to Leeland Lauti who broke free for 69-yards and took it all the way down to the Pac-Five 1-yard line. On third-and-goal, Choy snuck it in from 1-yard out and his 2-point pass to Kealii Kaanapu made it 35-28 with 50 seconds remaining. The scoring drive covered 9-plays and 89 yards.

"We just talked about it together and the guys played for each other. We had a team meeting today and they wanted nothing else but to win this game. At the end of the night, we felt something good was going to happen to us and we had some good breaks toward the end of the game even though we made mistakes," said Damien coach Eddie Klaneski.

On the ensuing kick off, Pac-Five's Roycen Routt returned it along the Damien sideline and all the way to Damien's 22-yard line. Canencia completed an 8-yard pass to Sean Kihei and a 3-yard pass to Brennan to the Damien 11-yard line. After scrambling and running out-of-bounds Canencia lost yardage. On the Damien 15-yard line with 1 second left, Pac-Five's Anthony Canencia completed a pass Jarrod Ifante 1-yard shy of the end zone from possibly sending the game into overtime.

"We knew it would be a good game, our kids played hard, both sides. It was such a great game and that's what we expect, the last guy with the ball usually wins, but we fell short, our kids played tough, my hat's off to them," said Pac-Five coach Kip Botelho.

Pac-Five took the lead in the first quarter after Anthony Canencia threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Roycen Routt.

Following a Wolfpack turnover on downs, Damien started on their own 47-yard line and 6-plays later, Syles Choy punched in a 1-yard touchdown to complete the drive, but the kick failed to make it 7-6.

In the second quarter after Pac-Five went three-and-out, Damien used some trickery: Choy lateraled it to Dylan Flores who threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Kealii Kaanapu. Kaanapu led all Damien receivers with 5 passes for 114 yards.

Damien went up 20-7 after DJ Aumua rushed for a 13-yard touchdown, however Pac-Five responded three plays later when Cancencia threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Routt to make it 20-13.

Damien built a two-touchdown lead going into halftime after Choy, who bobbled the snap and under pressure, found Trevor Caspillo for a 2-yard touchdown with 1 minute and 15 seconds remaining in the quarter.

In the third quarter, the Wolfpack started to rally as Pac-Five's Canencia threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Tsubasa Brennan and Cancencia's 2-point pass to Ifante made it 27-21.

The Monarchs drove deep to Pac-Five's 11-yard line, but Wolfpack cornerback Jared Kanoa intercepted Choy's pass near the 2-yard line. Kanoa also had another interception late in the fourth quarter. Following the interception, the Wolfpack drove 80-yards and facing a fourth-and-ten, Cancencia found a wide open Ifante for an 11-yard touchdown. Luke Caires' kick made it 28-27 as the Wolfpack scored 15 unanswered points to reclaim the lead going into the fourth quarter.

Pac-Five ends the season 1-6 in league play and 1-8 overall, but Coach Botelho was pleased with the growth of his team throughout the season. Roycen Routt caught a game high 12 passes for 206 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Anthony Canencia finished the game 33-of-55 passing for 380 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

"We had several kids on the field who never played a game before but they got better as the year went on. Our quarterback playing out of position, he's a slot we had him at quarterback and he got better as the season went on. I wish we could have more games but it is what it is," said Botelho.


Damien will play ScoringLive/OC16 Power Rankings Division II No. 4 and regular season champion 'Iolani for the postseason championship. The Raiders beat the Monarchs earlier 19-3 on September 21.

"We stuck together and we knew this was the game we had to win in order to play 'Iolani again. We feel confident and it's a matter of things falling into place. We can't make any mistakes and we can't turn the ball over in the first game and giving up plays on third downs. If we correct those, I feel we can compete much better than that at the end of that game," said Klaneski.