OIA Football
Na Menehune follow lead of their defense in bounce-back win over Kailua


  



Fri, Nov 12, 2021 @ Kailua [ 7:30 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Moanalua (5-2-0) 7 0 6 821
Kailua (2-4-0) 0 0 7 07

KAILUA — Moanalua got three takeaways from its defense and a strong second-half showing from its offense en route to a 21-7 road win over Kailua at Alex Kane Stadium Friday night. 

Quarterback Koa Malloe threw for 332 yards and two touchdowns on 19-of-31 passing and ran for another score to help Na Menehune improve to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I standings. 

The Surfriders got five sacks from their defense — half of them by defensive end Garic Pahinui — but zero points from their offense. Their lone points came via special teams and knotted the score at 7 midway through the third quarter, but it was not enough to keep them from falling to 0-3 in league play (0-4 overall). 

"I thought defense did awesome," said Moanalua coach Vince Nihipali. "We got a good defense that flies around and likes to make plays. They play on emotion, so when they start doing good, they just keep going and going and going, so it's a good group of kids; they're just sometimes a little too emotional."

Kailua had 11 offensive possessions for the game. Four drives ended with punts, three resulted in picks by as many different Moanalua defenders, two resulted in turnovers on downs, one led to a missed field goal and the final one ended the game. None of them led to points of any kind. 

"The defense kept us going," said Malloe, who logged a career-high in passing yards Friday. It was also his best single-game completion percentage (61.3%) this season and the second straight week that he was not intercepted.

"It was a good game for Koa," Nihipali said. "He got sacked a couple times, but he took what they gave him and like anything else, right, when he starts doing good, the confidence level gets up and these kids play on confidence. When they got it going, they start doing really, really well."

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Moanalua's defense set the tone early on. It forced back-to-back turnover on downs by the host Surfriders to open the evening. Kailua's second possession began inside the red zone at the Moanalua 16 after a high snap over the head of the punter that led to a 20-yard loss on what was already a fourth-and-25.

But the Menes' defense held and forced a four-and-out when quarterback Romeo Ortiz's pass on fourth-and-5 from the Moanalua 11 fell incomplete. 

Three plays later — on third-and-11 — Malloe completed a short pass to Andy Canencia along the left sideline. Canencia turned it into a 90-yard touchdown reception to put the visitors ahead at the 2:27 mark of the opening quarter. 

"I just went through my reads, I took what they gave me and he did all the work," Malloe said of the scoring play. 

Kailua got on the board with 6:11 to play in the third quarter, when Blazen Lono-Wong recovered a snap over the head of Moanalua punter Joshua Paleafei in the end zone for a touchdown. Theodor Bierbrauer's extra point knotted the score at 7. 

After the Surfrider touchdown, Moanalua turned it over on downs at its own 24-yard line. However, two plays into the consequent Kailua possession, Ortiz was intercepted by defensive back Tyler Collo. 

Na Menehune recycled the Collo pick into a 10-yard TD pass from Malloe to Jayce Bareng to take the lead for good with 1:51 left in the third. The same pair hooked up for gains of 35 and 50 yards on the first two plays of the drive. 

Moanalua added an insurance score with 1:32 to play with Malloe's 6-yard QB keeper around right end; Malloe's TD run came one play after he kept for a 33-yard pick-up that set-up first-and-goal from the 1-yard line. 

"The d-end bit on the running back, so I pulled and I got good blockers running so I mean, I thought it was a touchdown, but I guess they called it on the 1, but It's all about my blockers; my receivers and o-line did all the work today," Malloe said. 

Na Menehune produced 215 of their 321 yards of total offense after halftime. Eleven of their 14 total first downs came in the final two quarters, including all four of their first downs by rush. 

"I think everyone was paying attention to Jayce, so it really opened up the run," Malloe said. "Especially because (the Surfriders) were really tired — the ‘backers and the defensive line was really tired."

Nihipali recognized as much, with regards to Kailua and the fatigue factor. 

"They were getting tired," he agreed. "They got a bunch of guys going two ways and that's a very good football team. Their record doesn't show how good they are — Joe's got a good group of kids — they play hard and they should be way better than that record is."

Bareng finished with eight receptions for 160 yards, while Canencia posted six grabs for 126 yards. Tristin Kim and Dominic Tisalona also recorded interceptions for Moanalua. 

"We took it one play at a time and I'm just happy that we got this dub," Malloe said. "The defense kept us going. They pushed us to keep on scoring, so I'm very thankful for the defense."

Each team was just 2 of 12 on third downs and 0-for-3 on fourth-down conversions. 

Moanalua was flagged 11 times for 110 yards, including five personal fouls. 

The Menes were coming off of a 21-14 loss to Waipahu the week prior. Friday's game was a must-win in order for them to remain in contention for one of the two top spots in the final OIA D1 standings and a spot in the league championship game. 

"We needed to get our confidence back. These kids roll on emotion and we got to a point there where it was a little bit sketchy, but you know, they battled through and as a football coach, that's all you can hope, is that they actually finish the game strong," Nihipali said. ‘Which we did."

Both teams are on bye next week. Moanalua closes at Roosevelt on Nov. 26, while Kailua visits Castle that same evening. 



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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