Kaiser's Thomas Buntenbah-Leong carries the ball against Konawaena. Tyler Kanoa | Special to SL

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Kaiser quarterback Lii Karratti carries the ball against Konawaena. Jim LeBeau | Special to SL

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Kaiser's Jeshua Bitanga intercepts a pass against Konawaena. Tyler Kanoa | Special to SL

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Konawaena QB Brandon Howes loads up for a pass attempt against Kaiser. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kaiser's Parker Higgins looks for yards after the catch against Konawaena. Tyler Kanoa | Special to SL

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Konawaena's Dishon Cho heads to the endzone for a touchdown against Kaiser. Jim LeBeau | Special to SL

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Kaiser's Fitou Fisiahi rumbles into the endzone for a score against Konawaena. Tyler Kanoa | Special to SL

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Sat, Nov 9, 2013 @ Kaiser [ 7:00 pm ]

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Konawaena

6

Kaiser

59

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Konawaena (9-3-0)	0	6	0	0	6
Kaiser (13-1-0)	21	17	14	7	59

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Kahoalii Karratti 108 yd 2 TD

Brandon Howes 119 yd

Thomas Buntenbah-Leong 65 yd 1 TD

Dishon Cho 7 yd 1 TD

Parker Higgins 77 yd 1 TD

Chase Takaki 58 yd

Fans braved the rain and wet weather to watch Kaiser overwhelm visiting Konawaena, 59-6 in the opening round of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division II State Football Championships at Kaiser Stadium on Saturday night. The 59-points by the Cougars is the most scored by a team in a Division II State Tournament game.

Kaiser's secondary picked off Konawaena quarterback Brandon Howes four times tonight. Jeshua Bitanga had two interceptions. Melvin Kahunanui had a 60-yard interception return for a touchdown.

"Overall we did very well and they did all their assignments and everyone did a good job. We just played hard and we went through a lot of film study," said Bitanga, who also had 4 solo tackles and 1 tackle-for-loss.

"I guess I get overly excited when the DBs are making plays and the way they covered and tackled pretty well so I thought that was their best game of the year for the secondary," said Kaiser coach Rich Miano.  

With the poor weather, the Cougars relied on their rushing attack. They ran for 199-net rushing yards and averaged 6.4 yards per carry. They also gained 9 rushing first downs.

"It was windy and rainy like our first game against Campbell, we developed a much better power running attack. We felt if it does rain, we felt we can run the ball so we're much balanced and it helps set up the pass," said Miano.  

After Konawaena went three-and-out following Jordan Miyashiro-Young's interception, Kaiser got on the board first after a 55-yard touchdown run by Thomas Buntenbah-Leong. Matt Sai's kick made it 7-0 with 8:00 left in the first quarter.

A Kaiser kick out-of-bounds and a helmet-to-helmet penalty put the ball on the 50-yard line. Konawaena called a timeout and following the timeout, Melvin Kahunanui picked off a Brandon Howes pass and returned it 60-yards for a touchdown.

After the Wildcats went three and out, the punter Kevin Medeiros fumbled the snap and Keenan Arroyo recovered the fumble on the Konawaena 34-yard line. Fitou Fisiiahi punched in a 3-yard touchdown and the Cougars went up 21-0.

The Wildcats drove all the way to the Kaiser 22-yard line, but Howes was picked off again this time by Jeshua Bitanga. The interception set up a scoring drive that covered 7-plays and 71-yards capped by Kahoali'i Karratti's 5-yard touchdown pass to Fisiiahi and the Cougars led 28-0. Karratti finished the game 10-of-15 passing for 108 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

"When you look at his statistics all year long, he doesn't have gaudy numbers but we have explosive plays on special teams and defense that gives him good field position. It's about managing the football game," said Miano on Karratti.

With 10:52 in the second quarter, the game was delayed after Kaiser's Christian Sele went down with an injury. Trainers from both teams tended to him and he left the field in an ambulance.

"I understand he is getting more feeling in his body and his extremities so I'm hoping it's nothing serious. We were precautionary with that. Sometimes the team gets down because of their fallen brother, but I think they responded in a positive way because we tried to let them he is going to be okay and he wants them to play hard," said Miano.

"I was just scared for him, I was praying. He's one of my friends here and I just hope he gets better and it doesn't matter about football, I just want him to be okay," said Karratti.

After Brandon Howes threw his third interception to Parker Higgins, four plays later Matt Sai drilled a 37-yard field goal to put the Cougars up 31-0.

Starting from their own 35-yard line, the Wildcats drove all the way to the Cougars 7-yard line after a pass from Howes to Takaki covered 29-yards. Dishon Cho took the sweep and rushed for a 7-yard touchdown, but the kick was no good and they trailed 31-6 and this was their only score for the game.

Following a Konawaena three-and-out, the Cougars started at their own 30-yard line. With 32 seconds left in the second quarter, Karratti threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Higgins going into halftime with a 38-6 lead.

In the third quarter, the Cougars used some trickery as Fisiiahi took the handoff, pitched it to Justin Ikei who then threw it to a wide open Matt Haili for a 7-yard touchdown, to make it 45-6, which initiated the running clock.

Brandon Howes threw his fourth interception of the night to Bitanga. On the next play, Canaan Saole rushed up the middle for a 26-yard touchdown.

Seven seconds into the fourth quarter, backup Kaiser quarterback Kahi Neves threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Iakona Makaneole.

Kahoali'i Karratti, who was playing his former team, stayed a little later after the game to take pictures with former Konawaena teammates, family and friends.

"It was pretty sad and weird seeing them (his Konawaena teammates). I never seen them for how long and I played with them since I was practically young. It was weird seeing them on the other side and not playing with them," said Karratti.

Kaiser travels to War Memorial Stadium on Maui to face top-seeded Lahainaluna next week Saturday at 6 pm. It's a game people have been looking forward to since Lahainaluna and Kaiser are ranked number 1 and 2 respectively in the ScoringLive Power Rankings all season.

"All year long they have been ranked ahead of us and they deservedly so, the road is going to have to go through Lahaina and it's going to be a good football game," said Miano.

"There is a lot of talk about Lahainaluna and they are a good team. We knew they were going to be good and we planned on facing them them at some time and I guess it's next week so we have to bring our game," said Karratti.