Damien running back Keoua Kauhi rushed for 106 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning score in overtime, in a come-from-behind win over Iolani on Sept. 22, 2017. ScoringLive file photo

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Fri, Sep 22, 2017 @ Iolani [ 3:15 pm ]

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Damien

42

Iolani

35

Final/OT	1	2	3	4	OT	T
Damien (10-4-0)	0	21	6	8	0	42
Iolani (4-6-0)	28	0	7	0	0	35

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Tai-John Mizutani 304 yd 1 TD

Marcus Faufata-Pedrina 254 yd 1 TD

Tai-John Mizutani 49 yd 1 TD

Keoua Kauhi 106 yd 3 TD

Justin Genovia 165 yd 1 TD

Lindon Sevilleja 70 yd 1 TD

This was a big win by any measure for the Damien Monarchs.

Among the most memorable of its 10 wins during the 2017 prep football season was a 42-35 overtime win at Iolani on Sept. 22.

Not only did Damien rally from a 28-0 first-quarter deficit that Friday afternoon at Kozuki Stadium, it completed a season sweep of the Raiders — to spoil their homecoming, no less.

"Everything that happened that game I can remember, because it was so huge for us. It was big for us on a whole bunch of different fronts," Monarchs coach Eddie Klaneski reflected.

"I don't want to say it was historic because we actually beat them prior to that earlier in the season, but Iolani was always the team to beat and we never got over that hump."

Just 20 days prior, Damien snapped an 18-game losing streak to Iolani with a 35-21 win at Farrington's Edward 'Skippa' Diaz Stadium in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu opener for both teams. But outside of a 7-0 deficit after the first quarter, the Monarchs never trailed the Raiders in that contest — their first victory in the series since 2006.

The rematch, however, was a different story.

Iolani needed just 51 seconds to find the end zone, when quarterback Tai-John Mizutani found slotback Justin Genovia on a long pass play that resulted in a 63-yard touchdown.

To make matters worse, the Monarchs turned it over on their ensuing possession. Quarterback Marcus Faufata-Pedrina's delivered an errant pitch that was recovered by the Raiders' Lanakila Pei and returned 31 yards for a defensive TD.

Iolani made it a three-score lead with a short TD run by Kaua Nishigaya and extended its lead to 28-0 on another defensive TD — Kyler Mento's 74-yard scoop and score — just minutes later.

"That first big bomb — I remember it was like third-and-15 — basically our (defensive back) was covering (Genovia) for 10 seconds and then Tai-John was scrambling and threw a bomb and the guy made a great play. It was three huge plays," Klaneski said. "That big play and then the two fumble returns. It was crazy and so it happened just that fast."

After the opening quarter, Klaneski knew he had to re-energize his squad.

"I had to redirect my coaching staff — not even my kids. I remember being on the sideline and my coaching staff in the (press) box was going nuts, saying ‘it's over,' but I told them ‘(Iolani) just put up 21 points in seven minutes, so we should be able to do the same thing,' " Klaneski said. "At that point I was trying to get everybody relaxed and calm down, but after being down 28-0 in the first quarter, the kids were resilient and we made it a game by halftime."

The comeback started just five seconds into the second quarter. Faufata-Pedrina punched in a Damien touchdown from three yards out to get his team on the board.

A couple of defensive takeaways led to the Monarchs' next two scores, both of which came in the final four minutes of the first half.

Fosi Ulima's fumble recovery set-up Faufata-Pedrina's 17-yard TD pass to Lindon Sevilleja with 3:16 left in the quarter. Not long after that, Jarvis Natividad intercepted a Mizutani pass that Damien recycled into a 17-yard TD run by Keoua Kauhi with 1:03 on the clock.

Klaneski said it was a matter of settling his offense down.

"We kind of knew what they were doing defensively and it was just making the right play calls and right decisions. Obviously, the defensive stops helped our momentum and gave our offensive guys confidence. I think it just started to roll and after kind of settling down into our game plan, we were able to get back into the game and good things happened very quickly, but the thing was we didn't get away from what we knew we could do and that was what, I think, kind of saved us," Klaneski said.

Staying within themselves was important in order for the Monarchs to have a shot at a come back, he noted.

"We didn't get out of our game plan. I remember having to call a timeout because we were getting frustrated but I told them that ‘we don't need to do things that we don't game plan for,' and to just stay calm because it was just simple mistakes that we made. We ran the ball and then things opened up in the passing game, so we didn't try and get crazy and throw the ball when that's not what our strong point was," Klaneski explained.

Faufata-Pedrina inched his team closer with a 3-yard TD run just past the mid-point of the third quarter, but the PAT that followed was no good and the Raiders held on to a slim 28-27 advantage.

A few minutes later, the Raiders padded their lead with Mizutani's 3-yard TD scamper to make it 35-27 after three quarters.

Early in the fourth, however, Damien found paydirt with Kauhi again, this time on a 7-yard TD run. Faufata-Pedrina found Natividad with a pass on the successful two-point conversion to even the score at 35-all with 10:43 to play.

Damien had a chance to take its first lead late in regulation when it got the ball back after Iolani turned it over on downs. The Monarchs drove to the Raiders' 11-yard line, but Faufata-Pedrina's pass was intercepted in the end zone by Micah Shikada.

Still, the dual-threat quarterback never hung his head.

"He wasn't one of those kids to dwell on his mistakes. He would be a great (defensive back), where you get beat one time and come right back," said Klaneski, himself a former collegiate defensive back.

"He was always very confident in his skills for a young man and pretty mature, so for him in that situation it was very valuable because he's able to just shake those mistakes — like that pick and the fumble earlier in the game — he's able to just shake those off mistakes off and just go to the next play. Over his career he's won some huge games and made some huge plays, but the flip side of that is he also made mistakes that cost us some games, but he learned from those mistakes and I think he grew from those and it helped him have that unbelievable senior year."

The teams closed out regulation tied to send it to overtime. Damien had possession first and scored in just two plays. Kauhi's 5-yard TD run — his third of the game — gave the Monarchs their first lead of the game. Shiloh Kaeo tacked on the PAT to make the score 42-35, in favor of the visitors.

Despite the 77 combined points, ultimately, Damien needed a defensive play to secure the victory and it got it with defensive back JT White's interception of Mizutani to close it out.

Klaneski remembers that play specifically.

"We were practicing this coverage all week that we were gonna run. It was like a ‘show' kind of coverage, where we'd show a blitz to take away what (Mizutani) was gonna do and when that play came, it set-up perfectly," he said.

It was the first and only time that the Monarchs utilized that coverage all game.

"We practiced it all week and didn't run it, but I finally called it and when Tai-John threw the pass, we jumped it and covered the play. He threw it to the end zone and it looked like it was going to be a touchdown, but JT (White) comes out, he was in the middle, playing deep and he ended up coming all the way over to get that interception and close the game down," Klaneski said.

It was the first of five picks on the season for White, a senior defensive back. He recorded four of them in back-to-back games against Saint Francis a few weeks later, including a three-interception performance to help Damien clinch the ILH title with its 13-12 win over the Saints on Oct. 27.

The Monarchs claimed their third consecutive league championship, but were seeking a breakthrough in the Division I state tournament after a couple of years of heartbreak in the D2 ranks. In 2015, they were one-and-done following a 42-33 loss at Konawaena. The following year they handled Waialua, 40-0, in an opening-round rout, but were bounced by Kapaa, 21-14, in a semifinal-round game at Lihue's Vidinha Stadium.

Damien returned to the Garden Island and Vidinha Stadium to open the 2017 D1 state tournament with a semifinal matchup against Kauai. After falling behind early and trailing the Red Raiders, 10-6, at halftime, the Monarchs rallied in the second half en route to a 13-10 win and a trip to the state title game.

It was one of four games that they won by seven-or-fewer points that season.

Klaneski, who completed his ninth season as coach of his alma mater last fall, said it was a long process to change the culture of the program that previously was routinely on the wrong end of lopsided scores at the hands of the ILH's big three programs.

"I don't think we won a game the first two years we were there and a lot of this was because we'd be behind in situations — and I mean, like 7-0 in the first quarter — and guys would be hanging their heads," Klaneski recalled.

"For us to finally change that culture where the mindset was about ‘we're not here to just make the games close, we're gonna win football games and we're gonna be in games all the time and not hang out heads down, 7-0, 10-0,' and that Iolani game showed how far our mentality had come. It was what I wanted to instill from a long time ago; not being the doormat, wanting to be competitive and that game helped us out. Coming back and beating Iolani, the team that was the best for the last 10 years before that, was big for us and proved that we can come back," he added.

Unfortunately for the Monarchs, they fell short in the state final and saw Hilo make history as the first state champion from a neighbor island with its 35-19 win.

It marked a bittersweet finale for a number of seniors on the Damien team, including Faufata-Pedrina and White — both of whom earned All-Hawaii First Team honors, along with linebacker Matthew Faufata-Pedrina and return specialist Akila Arecchi.

"I just wish that particular team we ended up finishing that game against Hilo, for sure. If ever there was a team that deserved at Damien, it was them. A lot of those kids were there from sixth or seventh grade, going through that program and just to see what those guys accomplished — three-time ILH champs, beating Iolani two times in D1 that year after — those were huge accomplishments for those seniors," Klaneski said. "They're definitely one of the best classes that we've graduated from Damien and that was a very good team."

The Monarchs finished 10-4 on the season. Marcus Faufata-Pedrina was selected as ILH Offensive MVP and Klaneski was tabbed as league Coach of the Year.