Glen Pascual | Special to SL

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Lahainaluna's Elijah Ragudo celebrates following a ten-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Raguldo's score was the only in the contest. Glen Pascual | Special to SL

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Sat, Nov 7, 2015 @ Lahainaluna [ 7:00 pm ]

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Kaimuki

0

Lahainaluna

7

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kaimuki (7-5-0)	0	0	0	0	0
Lahainaluna (7-6-0)	0	7	0	0	7

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Dylan Delatori 0 yd

Billy Masima 30 yd

Donovan Defang 50 yd

Billy Masima 173 yd

LAHAINA, Maui — Lahainaluna's sea of red defenders won the battle with Kaimuki's beast in the backfield Saturday night.

The Lunas (7-5) held off the Bulldogs in a defensive struggle, 7-0, to post an opening round win in the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II Football Championships at Sue D. Cooley Stadium.

Lahainaluna, the Maui Interscholastic League Division II representative and ninth-ranked team in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division II Power Rankings, will move on to face top-seeded Kapaa at Vidinha Stadium on Nov. 14.

Kaimuki found room in between the 20s and outgained Lahainaluna, 208-109, behind running back Billie Masima's 173 rushing yard performance, but could not convert on two red zone opportunities.

"It goes back to team defense," said Lahainaluna co-head coach Garret Tihada. "It took a lot of heart and a lot of determination, because (Masima) did get through some tackles here and there, but our guys were just like waves and waves flying at him."

The fifth-ranked Bulldogs' first trip into the red zone resulted in a missed 37-yard field goal by Mana Manukeu midway through the second quarter. This would set up the only score of the game as Lahainaluna took over on its own 20 and drove the length of the field in nine plays.

Lahainaluna brought in an extra tackle on the line of scrimmage and used a variety of misdirection plays involving jet sweeps, dives and wing back counters on the scoring drive. Elijah Ragudo's 10-yard touchdown run on 4th-and-2 capped the series and Haaheo Au's PAT gave the Lunas a 7-0 lead with 4:14 to go before halftime.

"Their offense forced our linebackers to be honest,' said Kaimuki first-year coach David Tautofi, whose team was the runner-ups in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II. "We were flowing a little too fast. We slacked a little in the beginning but we were able to pick it up in the second half. We just weren't able to punch it in."

The Bulldogs turned it over on downs at the Lahainaluna 20-yard line with 3:41 to play in regulation, but got the ball back for one last possesion after James Gentile recovered a mishandled snap on the following play.

After a substitution infraction, Masima carried the ball two times for eight yards and completed a 12-yard pass to Jahssaiah Maiava to give the Bulldogs a 1st-and-goal at the Lahainaluna 5-yard line. 

That would be the closest Kaimuki would get as a bad snap and two 5-yard penalties against the offense moved the ball back to the Lunas' 23-yard line. Jaren Feary's pass on the ensuing play was intercepted in the end zone by Siale Hafoka and the Lunas were able to run out the remaining 91 seconds that was left on the clock.

"When you play in a scrappy game like this it comes down to who's able to take advantage of their opportunities," said Tautofi. "We had a chance, but something just had to go wrong and that's how things roll sometimes."

The Bulldogs finished their season with a 7-5 mark in Tautofi's first year at the helm.

Both teams kept their offenses grounded for most of the night as there was no completed pass until the 6:52 mark of the fourth quarter. Masima shouldered the load for the Kaimuki offense and carried the ball for a season-high 42 carries. Many of Masima's runs saw him take a direct snap in a formation with two tight ends, two full backs and a H-back.

Lahainaluna on the other hand had many players contribute in the win. Nine different ball carriers logged at least one rushing attempt, with Donovan Defang leading the way with 54 yards on 11 totes.

It was a rough day of travel for the Bulldogs. According to Tautofi, the team's bus driver showed up late to take them to the airpot. The team also spent most of the day waiting to check into a hotel and arrived late to the game, which pushed kickoff back about 20 minutes.

"We had a home alone episode at the airport,' said Tautofi. "We were at the hotel at nine this morning and didn't get rooms till two, and were in traffic for over an hour. It was just that kind of a day. That's not an excuse though. I thought it would give us a little more fire but hats off to Lahainaluna, they're a heck of a team."