OIA Football
Nichols, defense power Mules past Knights


  



Sat, Aug 18, 2018 @ Leilehua [ 6:30 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Castle (5-7-0) 13 0 0 619
Leilehua (8-3-0) 9 14 0 1437
Max Nichols 331 yd 4 TD
Cody Akagi 48 yd
Senituli Punivai 50 yd 1 TD
Dorian Furtado 122 yd 2 TD
Paul Omenegbar 107 yd 1 TD

WAHIAWA — Max Nichols passed for 331 yards with four touchdowns and rushed for another score to lead No. 10 Leilehua to a 37-19 win over visiting Castle in an OIA Division I football game at Hugh Yoshida Stadium Saturday.

The Mules faced an early double-digit deficit late in the first quarter, but rallied to score 35 consecutive points to record their second straight win. They improved to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in league play before a crowd of about 700 fans on a rainy evening in central Oahu.

The Knights fell to 0-3 overall and 0-2 in the OIA D1 standings.

Nichols, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior quarterback, completed 18 of his 32 pass attempts without an interception and also rushed three times for 10 yards. He threw scoring strikes of 59 and 43 yards to Dorien Furtado, who finished with a game-high five catches for 122 yards, and also connected on TD passes of 40 and 5 yards to Kalei Akagi and Jeremy Evans, respectively.

"We had this excitement about us. From before pre-game we felt this energy in us and we were communicating during the game. We felt like we were working as a unit, instead of as individual units, and so all of the fruits of our labor showed today and it was fantastic for everyone," Nichols said.

Leilehua coach Mark Kurisu was happy for Nichols after the gunslinger struggled in an overtime win at Kailua last week. Nichols completed only a third (12 of 36) of his pass attempts for 116 yards and was intercepted twice, but he did manage a pair of TDs through the air against the Surfriders.

"Max took it hard last week — he really did — and I keep telling him that ‘as much as you felt beat up and you didn't help the team, you did throw the game-winner against Kailua,' and he came out like that," Kurisu said.

Nichols completed the first eight passes he threw Saturday, including back-to-back-to-back TD strikes.

"He should have had two or three (more) touchdowns, (but) the receivers just dropped it, so we just gotta get better at finishing plays and I think we'll be just fine as we move forward," Kurisu said.

Defensively the Mules recorded six sacks — three of them by Xavier Tauasosi — and an interception by Randen Siavii and held Castle to 220 yards of total offense. Jaeden Chow also had a pair of sacks in the win.

"Our defense is fantastic. Week in and week out, they always show that they're the strong part of our team. They keep us in the game, they keep us going, they bring energy to us. It's amazing what they do," Nichols said.

It was the defense that was responsible for Leilehua's first points. The Knights capped the game's first drive with a 23-yard TD pass from Kanaipono Kahala-Giron to Kanekulani Kahala-Giron a little more than two minutes into the contest. However, their next possession ended with Kanaipono Kahala-Giron being sacked in the end zone by Leilehua's Jaku Hanohano-Baptista for a safety.

The Mules retained possession and drove to the Castle 10-yard line, but Nichols lost a fumble, which was recovered by Dominick Erisman for the Knights.

Castle recycled the turnover into points one play later when Kanaipono Kahala-Giron escaped the pocket and found Paul Omenegbar, who scampered across the field for an 80-yard touchdown pass to stretch his team's lead to 13-2 with 2:28 left in the first quarter.

Leilehua converted a pair of third downs on its ensuing possession, which culminated with a 40-yard TD pass from Nichols to Akagi, who beat single coverage down the left sideline. Nichols hit Akagi in stride on the play and Akoni Tom-Makue added the extra point to pull the Mules within 13-9 of the Knights just before the end of the first quarter.

Kurisu credited the defense for getting igniting the offense.

"I think it did. When we can score on defense — our offense, they really lean on (the defense) — and once (the defense) was able to get it going, then you saw what happened with the offense's confidence," Kurisu said.

Following a Castle three-and-out, Nichols took advantage of another one-on-one look when he led Furtado perfectly on a 59-yard TD pass. That score gave the Mules the lead for good with 10:47 left in the first half.

Nichols said he was pleasantly surprised to see single coverage early and often.

"I feel like we have — in our division — I do feel like we have one of the best receiving corps and I feel like after today a lot of other teams are gonna start respecting that and then once (running back) James (McGary) comes back, it's gonna be hard to stop our rolling offense," Nichols said.

The momentum tilted further in Leilehua's favor with a costly Knights' error on special teams. On fourth-and-14, the long snap sailed over the head of punter Bruce Pakele, who eventually was able to pick it up and tried to run with it, but was dropped for a 10-yard loss at his own 5-yard line.

On play later, Nichols lobbed a jump ball to the back right corner of the end zone, where the 6-foot-4 Evans easily pulled it down for a touchdown. The Tom-Makue PAT stretched the lead to 23-13 with 9:15 left in the second quarter.

The score held until early in the fourth quarter, when Nichols scored on a 1-yard sneak.

The Mules forced another three-and-out on Castle's next drive. Two plays later, Nichols found a wide-open Furtado down the left seam for a 43-yard TD pass. Tom-Makue tacked on the PAT to give Leilehua its largest lead at 37-13 with 8:42 left to play.

Kanaipono Kahala-Giron passed for 139 yards and a pair of scores in the loss. He finished 7-of-17 passing, but was dropped for four sacks and was held to minus-1 yard on eight rushes.

"You gotta give credit to that quarterback. He played outstanding in that first half; He was dropping dimes, scrambled and found the open receiver," Kurisu said. "I believe he was playing that well because I believe they got some of their o-line back —because they were huge. I know they were big before, but they got a few guys back and that paid dividends. He looked confident in the pocket to us, so we knew we had to make him move a little bit, but they executed early. We were able to slow them down a little, our offense caught some momentum, defense got to score a few points, too, so that helped us a lot."

Omenegbar caught three passes for 107 yards and Kanekulani Kahala-Giron added five grabs for 61 yards.

Senituli Punivai rushed 13 times for 50 yards, including a 4-yard TD on the final play of the game. He also recovered a fumble on defense.

Leilehua led at halftime, 23-13. It recorded 20 first downs — 13 of them by through the air — and was 5 of 11 on third downs.

Castle finished with 12 first downs. It was 3 of 3 on fourth-down conversions, but just 3 of 17 on third downs.

McGary, the Mules' leading rusher last season, missed his third consecutive game with a right arm injury.

Both teams return to action Friday. Castle will travel to Waipahu, while Leilehua will visit Nanakuli.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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