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Stacy Kaneshiro | ScoringLiveJanuary 21, 2017, 11:42pm
Sat, Jan 21, 2017 @ Aloha Stadium [ 6:00 pm ]
In a game featuring some of the best offensive and defensive players from here, the continental U.S. and Samoa, the difference came down to a pair of kickers from rival high schools.
Punahou's Jeff Chan atoned for a missed PAT earlier in the game by booting a 20-yard field goal with 39 seconds left to help Team Stanley beat Team Mariota (sans Mariota), 9-7, Saturday night in the inaugural Polynesian Bowl at Aloha Stadium.
A sparse crowd of an estimated 2,500 (5,227 tickets issued) on a blustery night then watched Team Mariota's Evan Minami of Iolani with a chance to win it with three seconds left, but his 46-yard field goal fell short.
The game was played without honorary coach Marcus Mariota, who is rehabilitating a season-ending fractured right fibula. Unable to play over a dispute whether he was eligible was Saint Louis graduate/Alabama enrollee quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, ScoringLive's Division I Offensive Player of the Year.
"It's a great feeling," Chan said of his game-winning kick. "Being a kicker, you realize that without your team you can't find any success. It translated with our Punahou season…At the end of the day, it call comes down to technique and work."
Chan saw the irony that the game boiled down to the kickers of the Punahou-Iolani rivalry.
"As a kicker, you only wish the best for the other one," Chan said. "I was rooting for him, yet at the same time, I wanted it to go wide. Evan's a great kicker."
It was a tough kick for Minami, who not only had to deal with distance, but strong gusts.
"My longest at practice was 50 (yards)," Minami said. "The wind was coming from my right to my left, so I had to account for that, but I guess (the calculations was) not enough.
"I know Jeff; he's a really good kicker. It was good to compete with him one more time."
Since offense requires more timing and chemistry, defense dominated. A.J. Epenesa (Edwardville, Ill.) led Team Stanley with five tackles, two of them sacks. He was the game's Defensive MVP. For Team Mariota, Kahuku's Aliki Vimahi led with six tackles, 2.5 of them for lost yardage.
With Tagovailoa shelved, Connor Neville (Beaverton, Ore.) started at QB for Team Mariota. But it was Moanalua's Alaka'I Yuen who took the most snaps of all the QBs in the game. He completed 10 of 26 passes for 125 yards and a TD, but was intercepted twice. He hopes his performance was enough to get him noticed by colleges.
"It was a blessing," Yuen said. "I have no offers. Hopefully, I have something after this. Just going out there with no offers and just doing my thing, that's what I needed to do."
Down 6-0, Yuen tossed a 25-yard TD pass to Mark Webb (Philadelphia) with 7:30 left in the game. Minami's PAT put Team Mariota ahead, 7-6.
Behind Michigan recruit Dylan McCaffery (Castle Rock, Colo.) at QB, Team Stanley – aided by a roughing the passer and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the same play by Juilano Falaniko (American Samoa) – moved down field, but could not break the end zone despite a first-and-goal from the 5. It settled for Chan's 20-yard field goal.
Team Mariota took over from its 20 with 38 seconds left. Yuen guided the offense to the Team Stanley 29. On second-and-10 with three seconds left, Minami came out for the 46-yard try, but missed to end the game.
After futile efforts by both offenses early in the game, Team Stanley broke the ice with 2:45 left in the first half when running back Connor Wedington scored on a 7-yard run. It came right after his 19-yard run, the longest rush of the game.
Wedington was the game's Offensive MVP with 47 yards on 14 carries.
"It's great," Wedington (Lake Tapps, Wash.). "But it all comes down to the offensive line. They put up the blocks."
Although the game is called the Polynesian Bowl, there were players of other ethnicities as well making it an educational and cultural event.
"It's great," Wedington said. "It's the first ever and I hope we can set off a legacy."
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