Football
Red Raiders clamp down on Trojans in second half, secure top seed in OIA tournament


  



Sat, Oct 15, 2022 @ Kahuku [ 6:30 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Mililani (7-5-0) 0 6 3 817
Kahuku (12-2-0) 7 0 19 329

KAHUKU — Top-ranked Kahuku used a familiar recipe to cook up a 29-17 win over No. 3 Mililani in both teams' regular-season finale Saturday night. 

The Red Raiders (8-2 overall, 6-0 league) got a solid second-half defensive effort and peppered in some special teams' help to rally from a 9-7 third-quarter deficit against the Trojans (6-3, 5-1). A homecoming crowd filled Carleton E. Weimer Field to witness the home team lock up the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Oahu Interscholastic Association Open Division tournament. 

Kahuku will host fourth-seeded and sixth-ranked Kapolei in one semifinal Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Mililani, the second seed, will host third-seeded and fourth-ranked Campbell at 7:30 p.m. Friday at John Kauinana Stadium in the other semifinal. 

The Trojans took their only lead of the game with seven minutes and 15 seconds left in the third quarter, following a 22-yard field goal by Makel Paiva to cap a 10-play scoring drive, which was spurred by an interception of Crawford by Kayden Anzaldo on the very first play of the second half. 

Following the pick by Anzaldo, Mililani quarterback Kini McMillan methodically completed five of his seven pass attempts on the drive, including an 11-yard completion to Onosai Salanoa to convert a third-and-10. However, McMillan's final pass attempt of the drive, intended for Raymond Roller, fell incomplete after he was hurried on the play by Kahuku's Nitus Auelua and the Trojans had to settle for the field goal. 

"They're a dangerous team and at any time they can score," Red Raiders coach Sterling Carvalho said of the Trojans. 

"We just had to make sure we had our reads and keys and do the best that we can and just contain them and that's what we did in the second half, we just contained them. They (were) coming down, they picked us apart, got a field goal, but in the end, that's all they had, so we just had to make sure we stayed patient and played assignment football," Carvalho said. 

Crawford and company answered on offense with a 10-play, 85-yard drive that culminated with his 32-yard touchdown pass to Kache Kaio despite two defenders working against the 6-foot-3, 208-pound wide receiver. 

"I looked off right because I knew that we had a size advantage with my receiver (against) their (defensive back), and so I looked right, I came back left and I just threw the ball and he just came down with it, so big props to him for catching that," Crawford said. 

Crawford's only touchdown pass of the night put the Red Raiders ahead for good, 13-9, with three minutes left in the third quarter. The PAT was no good, but on the ensuing kickoff return, Kitione Nakauciri and Jacob Ulima teamed up to trip up Trojans' returner Davyn Joseph after only a six-yard return to his own 18-yard line. Then, on the first play of the drive, McMillan targeted slotback Andrew Manivong Jr. on a short pass to the left side of the field, but it was instead intercepted by cornerback Aiden Manutai to give Kahuku possession at the Trojans' 35-yard line. 

"That was big time, that turned into a touchdown, so that was a big-time play, so good job by Aiden," said senior safety Brock Fonoimoana. 

Just four players later, Vaaimalae Fonoti busted a handful of tackles third-and-2 for a 7-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 19-9 with 1:15 remaining in the third quarter. 

But Big Red wasn't done yet. Three plays into Mililani ensuing drive, it was Fonoimoana's turn to get his hands on a McMillan pass. Fonoimoana jumped a pass over the middle, picked it off and returned it 60 yards for another Kahuku touchdown. 

"The coaches have been telling me to drive (inside receiver), so we have good coaches that have good game plans for us and so just follow that and execute the play," said Fonoimoana, who is verbally committed to the University of Utah. 

Carvalho noted that the Red Raiders did anything but overreact after the Trojans took a slim lead midway through the third quarter. 

"We just had to stay patient and Aiden, he was getting beat, but at the end, he just knew what we had to do and so we just — we don't panic," said Carvalho, whose team has been tested by national powerhouses this season in a road loss at St. John Bosco (Bellflower, California) and a down-to-the-wire loss at home to Saint Frances (Baltimore) a few weeks ago. 

"We've been in these situations, we've been in tight games, we've been in big games and so we just had to settle down and just play assignment football, once we do, we're gonna hold them, we're gonna execute and that's what we did tonight in the second half," Carvalho said. 

Crawford described the feeling of growing confidence on the Red Raiders' sideline with each big play turned in by their defense. 

"Right after Aiden's pick we could feel the momentum building up and then we just kept going and we knew that when Brock made that big pick-six it was game," he said. "it was game from then."

Following Fonoimoana's pick-six, Zaden Mariteragi tacked on the extra point to stretch the Kahuku lead to 26-9 with eight seconds left in the third quarter. 

A few minutes into the fourth quarter, disaster struck for the Trojans on special teams. Following a Mililani timeout, Paiva had his punt blocked by Kahuku's Madden Soliai. The freshman came off the edge and stretched out for the block, before Leonard Ah You recovered the pigskin for the Red Raiders, who took possession just outside the red zone. 

Kahuku eventually recycled the blocked punt into a 26-yard field goal by Mariteragi to take their largest lead of the game at 29-9 with 7:37 left to play. 

"We knew Madden could get there so we kinda just made sure they didn't throw anything but Madden is good at that — it's his second punt block, I think — he's gonna be a baller," Fonoimoana said of the freshman. 

Carvalho, for one, wasn't surprised by Soliai's block, given the emphasis the Red Raiders put on the ‘third phase' of the game. 

"We don't just look at this as an offensive team, a defensive team or a special teams' team, we look at this as a family and as a team collectively that everybody wants to get on the field and the best way to the get on the field is every day in practice," Carvalho expressed. 

He went on, "Everybody competes and that's why we thrive in all three phases of our game, because we spend a lot of time on special teams, defense and offense and so it's not a surprise when we execute (in) big games."

Kahuku failed to execute at the end of the first half, however. It put together a 12-play drive that reached the Trojans' 31-yard line. Fonoimoana appeared to haul in a 31-yard touchdown from Crawford on the final play of the first half, but a holding penalty negated the score and instead, Crawford's last-ditch heave on an untimed down, intended for Fonoimoana, was intercepted in the end zone by Mililani's Gavin Hunter. 

Kahuku took a 7-6 lead into the intermission before Crawford was picked off by Anzaldo on the first play from scrimmage to start the second half. 

"We just had to stick to the game plan and just move on to the next play," Crawford said. "There's always going to be plays like that throughout the game, but it's about how you move on, so we just had to move on and wipe it off our shoulders and look at the next play."

Fonoimoana reiterated what Carvalho preached to the team during their talk at halftime. 

"We just started off slow, but we're a second-half team so we stepped it up and we got our players all hyped and we knew we could win this if we just did our assignments, so we did our assignment and made up for it," Fonoimoana said. 

Kahuku opened the scoring with a 1-yard TD run by Fonoti with 1:54 left in the first quarter. The touchdown — Fonoti's 12th rushing score this season — capped a 10-play, 89-yard drive that took 5:53 off the clock and came five plays after the Red Raiders converted a third-and-17 with a 20-yard pass play from Crawford to Fonoimoana. 

Mililani drove 76 yards in just six plays on its ensuing possession, which culminated with an 11-yard TD pass from McMillan to Salanoa. The PAT was no good and the Red Raiders clung to a 7-6 lead with 10:17 left in the second quarter. 

McMillan completed 26 of his 34 pass attempts for 268 yards. Joseph led all players with seven receptions for 105 yards; He finished with 180 all-purpose yards, including 75 yards on three kickoff returns. 

Roller closed out the scoring with his 66-yard punt return for touchdown in the final minutes; He also ran in the ensuing two-point conversion. 

The Trojans only ran the ball seven times — including three sacks by Kahuku's defense of McMillan — and managed only 19 yards on the ground. They posted 287 yards of total offense, converted three of eight third downs and were flagged nine times for 104 yards. 

Kahuku ran for 201 of its 365 total yards. Fonoti logged 21 carries for 101 yards, while Crawford completed only 11 of his 22 pass attempts for 164 yards, but was not sacked and ran for 64 yards on seven carries in the win. 

"Shoutout to my o-line, they been putting a lot of work at practice, so just protecting me and just, I love those guys up front," Crawford said. 

The Red Raiders, who ran for 10 of their 19 total first downs, averaged 5.6 yards per rush. Aside from last week's 276 rushing yards in a blowout of Moanalua, Saturday marked the most rushing yards by Kahuku in a game this season. 

"Coming into this game we knew that if we could establish the run, we could control the clock, we control the ball and that's what we did tonight," Carvalho said. "Our o-line came out tonight and they did a hell of a job."

Kahuku was 6 of 10 on third-down conversions. 



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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