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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveSeptember 14, 2019, 12:06am
Fri, Sep 13, 2019 @ Leilehua [ 6:00 pm ]
WAHIAWA — Kekoa Turangan passed for 285 yards and factored into four touchdowns to help No. 13 Leilehua to a 34-26 win over No. 8 Damien in a Division I football game at Hugh Yoshida Stadium Friday night.
The Mules (5-1) posted a 20-point third quarter and made a goal line stand down the stretch to hand the Monarchs (5-1) their first loss of the season.
Turangan completed 20 of 25 passes, including three touchdowns and one interception in his second start at quarterback. The 6-foot, 155-pound senior also rushed for a 2-yard touchdown that gave his team its largest lead at 34-20 late in the third quarter.
"You can't be more proud for a kid like that," Leilehua coach Mark Kurisu said. "He trusted the process."
Turangan's favorite targets were Jayzon Ramos, who had six receptions for 136 yards and two touchdowns, and Kalei Akagi, who recorded seven grabs for 105 yards.
Akagi opened the scoring when he pulled down a 41-yard TD pass from Turangan midway through the first quarter to cap a nine-play drive that included a pair of third-down conversions. Akagi beat one-on-one coverage against the Damien defensive back and Turangan delivered a well-placed pass down the right sideline.
"They were playing man against me," Akagi recalled. "(Offensive coordinator Andrew Manley) has a lot of trust in me, has a lot of trust in the offense and he just called the play to my side and I just executed the play."
In the second half, Akagi's 80-yard TD run on a toss left — one play after River Iaea's 5-yard plunge into the end zone capped a 12-play, 68-yard drive for Damien — gave Leilehua the lead for good with 3:04 left in the third.
"That was huge. As offensive coordinator, my job is to get the ball into our playmakers' hands and that means multiple different ways and it's my job to figure out how to get them the ball, so we've been putting in little wrinkles here and there and that one happened to hit," Manley said.
On the scoring play, Akagi lined up in the backfield, to the left of Turangan. After taking the short toss from Turangan, Akagi turned the corner and went untouched down the left sideline.
"(Manley) just called the play for me and he said, ‘just run,' so I mean, I put a lot of trust in our offensive linemen, receivers — Jayzon Ramos made a nice block — all five linemen did their job and I just saw a gap, I hit it and I just turned on the boosters from there," said Akagi, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound junior.
Kiaka Pio then kicked and recovered an onside kick and the Mules picked up 47 yards in one play on a double-pass from Akagi to Ramos to set-up Turangan's a quarterback sneak into the end zone one play later. Kona Raymond tacked on the extra point to make it 14 points in just 22 seconds.
"That's actually our special teams coordinator, Darrin Matsumiya," Kurisu said of the onside kick. "We've been practicing that all year and we never ran it — actually we ran it against Moanalua and we almost had it — this time we ran it and we were able to execute to the recovery, so that's all you can ask. In those moments, where it's critical, you've got to have players that can execute it like that."
Damien got within a score after Jake Holtz hit Ezra Kaina for an 18-yard touchdown with 4:20 left to play. After a Leilehua three-and-out, the Monarchs got the ball back at their own 40-yard line with 2:00 on the clock.
Leilehua committed a pair of personal fouls on consecutive plays to give Damien first-and-goal from the Mules' 10.
Holtz threw a short completion to Tino Atonio on first down and Iaea picked up five yards on a fullback dive to set-up third-and-goal from the 2. Iaea was stopped at the 1 on third down before Holtz was pressured while dropping back on fourth down and had his pass fall incomplete in the end zone to turn it over on downs.
"It's hard because these teammates just want to do well for their seniors and sometimes they try too hard, they try to do too much," Kurisu said of the late defensive penalties.
"We tried to get the sack and they did a great quarterback throw-back. We were trying to strip (the ball) and we got called for a roughing, or a face mask, and then we didn't hear a whistle according to the corner, so that's why he went ahead and finished the tackle, but it's an emotional time, end of the game and you want to send your seniors off on the right note, so it's just a credit to the boys for stepping up on the goal line," Kurisu said.
The Mules got the ball back with four seconds remaining and ran out the clock.
Holtz finished 24-of-46 passing for 172 yards. He also tossed a 14-yard scoring strike to Natividad, who finished with nine receptions for 81 yards.
Amo Sulu carried 14 times for 118 yards, including a 36-yard TD run early in the second quarter that gave Damien its only lead at 14-7.
Leilehua tied it at 14 with just five seconds left in the first half on a 9-yard TD pass from Turangan to Ramos. The pair also hooked up on a 28-yard scoring strike about four minutes into the second half.
Makanalea Meyer had six receptions for 37 yards and recorded both of the Monarchs' two sacks on defense.
The Mules finished with 396 yards of total offense, more than 100 yards above their per-game average entering the contest.
"I did good, but it wasn't just me, it was a team effort," Turangan said. "Our team is just meshing. Executing and doing what we need to do just got us going."
The Monarchs posted 339 yards net yards. They averaged better than 391 yards and nearly 40 points per game coming into the game.
"We have a lot of confidence in our defense, a lot of trust in them, they do a fabulous job of stopping the run, just stopping plays, making big plays in clutch moments, so very proud of them," Akagi said. "They played lights out still."
Damien will face No. 12 Iolani next Friday at Aloha Stadium, while Leilehua will visit Castle that same evening.
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