Football
Kealakehe holds off late Pearl City rally


  



Sat, Aug 3, 2019 @ Pearl City [ 6:30 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Kealakehe (7-4-0) 0 6 7 013
Pearl City (3-7-0) 0 0 0 77
Adam Puchert 136 yd 1 TD
Alii Gaspar 35 yd 1 TD
Devin Wagner 41 yd 1 TD

PEARL CITY — It was a low scoring, grind-it-out slugfest, but both coaches wouldn't have it any other way to start their seasons.

Kealakehe (1-0 overall) held off a late push from host Pearl City (0-1 overall) to win, 13-7 in a non-league contest at Edwin "Bino" Neves Stadium Saturday.

The win gives Wyatt Nahale his first win as head coach with the program.

"It feels good. We have a lot of work to do. Despite our injuries, our personnel we had to shuffle around. If you can pull out a win against a great team like Pearl City, you got to take it as a confidence booster moving forward," coach Nahale said.

Son Sheynen-Wyatt Nahale after transferring from Konawaena, his first start with the Waveriders resulted in 95 passing yards, two scores, and an interception.

"It feels good. We need to work more as a team," Nahale echoed similar thoughts as his father.

"I thought he did well," coach Nahale said of his son. "Unfortunately he made that interception, but I thought he did well being his first outing here."

The Chargers had just over 30 players suited up and with starters out, it gave others a chance to audition and show the coaches what they could do.

"Tonight a lot of guys showed us what we they could do. Now this week, everyone is going to work hard for their position," Pearl City coach Robin Kami said. "I like these kind of (grind-it-out) games, regardless of the outcome. Our kids didn't give up. It went back and forth. We didn't have a scrimmage, so this was our first game. No excuses, it's a lesson to be learned."

Starting from their own 12 and trailing by two scores, Adam Puchert mounted the comeback by completing two passes to Juan Vargas and a 40-yard completion on a third-and-3 to Isaiah Cruz-Amerperosa into Kealakehe territory. He had a 26-yard completion to Joshua Gleason that resulted in a 15-yard touchdown pass on the next play to Alii Gaspar and Landon Chang put through the PAT as the Chargers trailed, 13-7 with 3:46 to play.

"I liked that drive when we scored because we kept the chains moving and it gave us a chance to compete and in the last series we tried to win the game," Kami said.

"To have a battle like this, it really tests your will. Being that we're going to play good competition back home, I want to be tested early to see what we're made of and also get us better," coach Nahale said.

Three plays into Kealakehe's offensive possession, Herbert Hallers intercepted Nahale's pass and Pearl City took over on the Waveriders' 40. The Chargers lost a down on an illegal participation and Puchert was dropped for a 10-yard loss by Kristian Delima. Facing a fourth-and-25, Puchert lateraled it to Gleason, but his pass fell short as the Waveriders ran out the clock.

"Our defense was on the field was a lot tonight. They bended, but unfortunately they could only do so much. Unfortunately they gave up a touchdown. Through it all, at the end of the game they battled back at the end of the game, they got one back for us which put us in our victory formation. I was so proud of the defense," coach Nahale said.

Puchert, who is listed as a receiver, was thrusted behind center and threw for 136 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

"I give Adam a lot of credit tonight for just stepping in and being under the gun, pressure's on him, but he took it well and did very good for what we had," Kami said of Puchert.

On their first three offensive possesions in the first half, the Waveriders gave Pearl City good field position as the Chargers started on the Kealakehe 36, 45, and 43. The Chargers had a chance to get on the scoreboard. Landon Chang's 39 and 47 yard field goal attempts fell short.

In the first half, both teams combined for four punts, three missed field goals, and two turnover on downs as neither team could get traction offensively.

"I think we have to execute better offensively. Definitely when we're in the red zone and we have opportunities, we have to capitalize on that. We have to go back and review film. The film won't lie and it will show us up front, we have to do better," coach Nahale said.

For almost 24 minutes, the game appeared to be a scoreless first half before Nahale tossed a 28-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-1 to Hunter Wehrsig who laid out to break a scoreless stalemate. After penalties pushed Kealakehe back, the PAT try failed for a 6-0 lead.

"The DB on Hunter was playing soft man and Hunter took it as a fade and he made a play on it," Nahale said.

"We wanted to take that 50-50 shot on the backside. We knew we had Hunter locked up on the backside and we said, 'Hey, let's take a shot and see what happens,'" coach Nahale said.

The Waveriders were gifted great field position, starting at the Pearl City 23. A false start penalty pushed them back five yards, but Nahale threw a 28-yard touchdown to Makana Wagner to make it, 13-0.

"There was no one in the middle, the safety was rolled over to the left, the other safety was over the top on the right. Makana Wagner was wide open down the middle and I placed the ball right in there," Nahale explained of his second TD pass.

Kealakehe will have time to regroup as it starts BIIF play against Konawaena on Aug. 17. Pearl City takes on Kaiser (1-0 overall) to open league play.



Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].




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