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Male Athlete of the Week: Austin Ewing, Konawaena football
One could hardly fault Austin Ewing if he were to be a little upset on a night that he was sacked seven times.

Instead, the Konawaena quarterback did just the opposite, and in the process, led his team to a 35-12 win over Kamehameha-Hawaii Saturday.

Ewing, a 6-foot-1, 165-pound junior, passed for a career-high 443 yards and four touchdowns despite working behind a patchwork offensive line that was without both starting guards on a soggy evening at Julian T. Yates Field.

"The hard part was all night we had low snaps from center," Konawaena coach Brad Uemoto said. "We probably snapped about 10 balls on the ground, a couple that took bounces and he caught the snap — it was crazy — and that just threw off a lot of the timing packages we had. I shouldered some of the blame on the sacks, whether it be because of a lack of preparation on my part, or play-calling in general, but we all sort of worked together and it ended up being pretty productive that we continually executed and kept making plays.

Uemoto said Ewing had several long runs as well, but the yardage was all but negated with the seven sacks by the Kamehameha-Hawaii defense.

Despite the Wildcats difficulties on offense, its leader stayed cool under pressure.

"A lot of people, especially a lot of our coaches, said they saw his maturity start to develop in this game," Uemoto said of Ewing, who completed 23 of 45 passes and was intercepted once. "He stayed positive the whole time, he encouraged the offensive line that they were still doing a good job and he kept his composure."

All four of Ewing's touchdown passes were to different teammates.

After a scoreless first quarter, Ewing tossed a pair of touchdown passes in the second. He connected with Kamakana Ching for an 82-yard score and Jeremiah Casuga-Llanes on a 5-yarder.

The Warriors cut the Wildcats' lead to 19-12 late in the third quarter, but Ewing threw two more scoring strikes — a 10 yards to Austin Aukai and a 56-yard shovel to Micah Laban — sandwiched around a safety by the defense to pull away.

"I don't think our offense went as fast as I wanted us to, but I think our pace wore them down," Uemoto said. "Our defense kept getting stops and kept their offense off the field, so their defense was on the field way more than they wanted to be. I definitely think they wore down and as they did the (passing) windows became bigger, the runs became longer. Overall, our offense just got better as the game progressed."

Ching, a 6-foot-3 wide receiver, finished with eight receptions for 157 yards.

"I think initially I wanted to do what we sort or do offensively: short passes, keep the chains moving, keep it uptempo, but after a while we realized that they were giving us one-on-one (coverage) with our outside receivers and we took advantage of that," Uemoto said. "They showed us a bunch of different coverages and fronts and we had to adjust. We went back to the shorter pass game later and then we kind of flowed from there."

Both Ewing and Ching were First Team All-Hawaii selections last year.

Ewing was also named ScoringLive's D2 preseason and midseason offensive player of the Year. Through Konawaena's first seven games this season, Ewing leads D2 with 1,946 passing yards and 25 touchdowns.

The win over KS-Hawaii also gives the Wildcats home-field advantage in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation title game, when the teams rematch on either Oct. 21 or 22.

"We don't want to have to travel for a championship game and the other aspect to it is having that confidence going into that championship game that you just beat them two weeks ago," Uemoto said.

Konawaena, the defending BIIF champion, has won five straight games since a narrow 23-21 loss to Division-I Hilo back on Aug. 27.

"After that loss we kept saying that we needed to get better offensively," Uemoto said. "Not just Austin, but our receivers got better, our offensive line got better and our running backs got better. We worked on continually getting better and better and each position group took it upon itself and I think that's where we became more productive, but it's was a cumulative jump."

Ewing and the Wildcats (6-1, 5-1 BIIF) moved into the No. 1 spot in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric D2 Power Rankings on Monday. They will close out the regular season at Keaau Friday night.

-Kalani Takase

Female Athlete of the Week: Jhenna Gabriel, Maryknoll volleyball
Jhenna Gabriel was at the forefront of the Maryknoll Spartans' biggest win of the year.

The junior 5-foot-8 setter dished out 39 assists to go along with four digs, three aces, two kills and two blocks in Saturday's straight set win over Iolani, the defending Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I champion and 2015 state runner-up. Set scores were 25-13, 27-25, 25-19.

Gabriel, whose cousin Dillon is the quarterback at Mililani, spread the wealth all around to five different hitters, distributing it evenly to the outside, right side, middle and back row. Outside hitters Natasha McClendon and Dakota Viena each knocked down 14 kills and 6-foot-2 middle Rhyenne Filisi had 10 kills and four total blocks to round out the Spartans with double-digit kills. Moana Tootoo and Isabella Cravens chipped in with six and four kills respectively.

Maryknoll coach Luis Ramirez had high praise for his setter after the game.

"When you have a conservation about the best setters in the state, she has to be in the conservation," he said. "I think she showed the competitive experience that she has today, as well as her commitment to do well. I'm lucky to have her and she's going to do well at the next level."

The Spartans' sweep of the Raiders was also the start of the league's second round. The winner of the ILH second round title receives an automatic bid into the Division I state tournament.

In addition to starting the second round with a win, Maryknoll avenged two regular season losses to Iolani earlier the season.

Gabriel, who maintains a 4.0 grade point average, said the difference in Saturday's contest was that the Spartans had more "heart" than they did in the past.

"We played together a lot more than we have been doing," she said. "We also had our outside Dakota Viena back and that helped a lot too. Our defense, we weren't letting balls drop so that really helped."

The Maryknoll setter was quick to deflect credit for her performance to the Spartans' back row. Libero Kiari Gier led the charge wit ha match-high 17 digs.

"Our passing was perfect so I was in the right position to set everybody," said Gabriel. "All of our pieces fit together real well so that's why we did good."

Ramirez said that one thing that makes Gabriel so great is her ability to recognize situations quickly, an skill set that is further developed when she plays beach volleyball in the offseason.

"Her skills are ahead of the curve," he said. "She's just a fierce competitor that loves to compete. She did a good job of following our game plan and she's very coachable. She's used to seeing situations and making the most of it."

Gabriel isn't always intense however. Ramirez described her as "pretty bubbly" off the court.

"She's intense at times, but sometimes she's goofy like the rest of the girls at this age, but she's able to flip the switch very quickly and get focused and the things that need to get accomplished. It's an interesting combination."

One of the unsung moments of Gabriel's contributions in Saturday's win was from the service line. The Spartans held a one set to none lead, but was in danger in the second set down 24-21. After a McClendon kill, skilled serves by Gabriel helped Maryknoll get back into it.

The Spartans made it a 24-23 game after an Iolani hitting error and a Cravens kill on an overpass off of Gabriel's serving tied the game at 24. Another tough serve by Gabriel resulted in an ace to give the Spartans a 25-24 lead, and they ended up winning the set, 27-25.

"She knows how to handle the ball really well and she's able to pinpoint the serve exactly where I was telling her to put it, and it allowed us to get us into good situations," said Ramirez.

Gabriel and the Spartans continue their season on the road on Tuesday against Kamehameha, the defending state champion.

"We've been training so hard," said Gabriel. "We're just getting at it in practice and focusing on getting better, not so much pulling through the first round, but making sure that by this game and these next couple games that we're at our highest point and that all of our training is being put to good use."

-Michael Lasquero

AIR RIFLERY
Lauren Kadooka, Kailua — Shot a high score of 539 to win the OIA girls individual title

Justin Pascua, Kalaheo — Shot a high score of 534 to win the OIA boys individual title

Cheyne Santos, Pearl City — Shot a high score of 521 to help the Chargers to the OIA girls team championship in a win over Kalani

Eric Schlitzkus, Pearl City — Shot a high score of 513 to help the Chargers to the OIA boys team championship in a win over Moanalua

BOWLING
Bradley Nakamura, Pearl City — Rolled a high three-game series score of 697 in an OIA West boys match

Erin Ohta, Pearl City — Rolled a high single-game score of 232 and a three-game series of 584 in an OIA West girls match

Nelson Weyl, Leilehua — Rolled a high single-game score of 267 in an OIA West boys match

CROSS COUNTRY
Camryn Butz, Radford — Won the OIA Western Division girls individual title in a time of 21 minutes, 11.30 seconds

Carley Dailey, Moanalua — Won the OIA Eastern Division girls individual title in a time of 21 minutes, 33.39 seconds

Jordan Jones, PAC-5 — Won the girls race at the Punahou Invitational in a time of 19 minutes, 41.05 seconds

Connor Lehl, Punahou — Won the boys race at the Punahou Invitational in a time of 16 minutes, 44.52 seconds

Timothy Schiller, Mililani — Won the OIA Western Division boys individual title in a time of 17 minutes, 55.47 seconds

Avery Torres, Kalaheo — Won his second straight OIA Eastern Division boys individual title in a time of 16 minutes, 38.91 seconds

FOOTBALL
Iosefo Ah Ching-Noga, Farrington — Scored on a 97-yard kickoff return in a win over Kaiser

Chayce Akaka, Baldwin — Threw for 220 yards and four touchdowns on 11-of-12 passing and rushed for another score in a win over King Kekaulike

Richard Anderson, Farrington — Had two sacks and scored on a 22-yard fumble return in a win over Kaiser

Konapiliahi Andres, Leilehua — Threw for 253 yards with two touchdowns on 10-of-16 passing and rushed for 53 yards and another score in a win over Aiea

Elijah Apao, Hilo — Scored on a 35-yard punt return in a win over Keaau

Brandon Bender, Moanalua — Rushed for two touchdowns in a win over Castle

Kamakana Ching, Konawaena — Caught eight passes for 157 yards and a touchdown in a win over Kamehameha-Hawaii

Daniel Corpuz, Baldwin — Rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries in a win over King Kekaulike

Donovan Defang, Lahainaluna — Rushed for 101 yards on 14 carries in a win over Kamehameha-Maui

Challen Faamatau, Farrington — Rushed for 145 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries in a win over Kaiser

Alfred Failauga, Waipahu — Rushed for 192 yards and three touchdowns on 37 carries in a win over Kalani

Sefa Finau, Saint Francis — Scored on a 52-yard kickoff return in a win over PAC-5

Grey Ihu, PAC-5 — Caught seven passes for 116 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Saint Francis

Kalama Keeno, Kailua — Made five tackles for loss in a loss to Waianae

Lancen Kuni, Waialua — Caught two touchdown passes and scored on a 34-yard fumble return in a win over McKinley

Bronson Louis-Merry, Moanalua — Rushed for two touchdowns in a win over Castle

Faasisina Masalosalo, Farrington — Made 3 1/2 tackles, broke up a pass, forced a fumble and recovered a block for a touchdown in a win over Kaiser

Kanai Mauga, Waianae — Had three sacks in a win over Kailua

Jaykob Nakahiki-Young, Kauai — Caught a touchdown pass and rushed for another in a win over Kapaa

Enoch Nawahine, Punahou — Rushed for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass in a win over Iolani

Daniel Nguyen, Kaimuki — Ran for a touchdown, made four tackles, including one for loss, broke up two passes and intercepted a pass in a win over Pearl City

Destin Pakele, Saint Francis — Had two sacks in a win over PAC-5

KJ Pascua, Iolani — Rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries in a loss to Punahou

Nakoa Pauole, Kamehameha — Had two sacks in a loss to Kamehameha

Kawai Phifer, Leilehua — Caught two passes in a win over Aiea

Destry Pulawa-Lopez, Leilehua — Scored on a 50-yard interception return in a win over Aiea

Jacob Ramelb, Moanalua — Scored on an 81-yard interception return in a win over Castle

Ryan Ramones, Moanalua — Caught 11 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown in a win over Castle

Ezekiel Rombawa, Castle — Had two sacks in a loss to Moanalua

Rico Rosario, Waianae — Rushed for 133 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries in a win over Kailua

Leighton Russell, Kailua — Scored on a 33-yard interception return and made nine tackles, three for losses, including one sack, in a loss to Waianae

Nehemiah Sauvao, Moanalua — Had two sacks in a win over Castle

Tyson Shimabukuro, Saint Francis — Rushed for 133 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries in a win over PAC-5

Foi Sila, Farrington — Had three tackles, including two sacks, in a win over Kaiser

Jeminae Solomua, Waipahu — Made four tackles, including 2 1/2 sacks, in a win over Kalani

Tua Tagovailoa, Saint Louis — Threw for 138 yards with two touchdowns and rushed for 99 yards and another score in a win over Kamehameha

Kalei Tolentino-Perry, Hilo — Rushed for a touchdown and kicked two field goals of 37 yards in a win over Keaau

TeeJay Tome, Aiea — Rushed for two touchdowns and caught another score in a loss to Leilehua

Aaron Woo, Punahou — Scored on an interception return in a win over Iolani

Alakai Yuen, Moanalua — Threw for 193 yards with a touchdown and rushed for another score in a win over Castle

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Gieani Balino, Campbell — Had 11 digs, four kills and two aces in a three-set win over Nanakuli

Christianne Canoneo, Christian Academy — Had 37 digs and four aces in a four-set win over St. Andrew's Priory

Sonny Rodrigues, Christian Academy — Had 16 kills, 21 digs and six aces in a four-set win over St. Andrew's Priory

Rainena Schenbeck Chang, Christian Academy — Had 27 assists, seven digs, six aces and four kills in a four-set win over St. Andrew's Priory

Arielle Tafeaga, Nanakuli — Had 10 kills, eight digs and an ace in a three-set loss to Campbell

Seth Tina-Soberano, Kalani — Threw for 223 yards with two touchdowns on 14-of-25 passing and rushed for 136 yards and another score on 20 carries in a win over Waipahu

Charles Watson, Leilehua — Caught five passes for 114 yards in a win over Leilehua

Sirinya Yothawang, King Kekaulike — Had 12 digs in a three-set win over Kamehameha-Maui