OIA Football
Nanakuli completes undefeated run through OIA play to win the league's D2 title


Michael Lasquero | ScoringLive
October 30, 2022, 3:18am

  


Sat, Oct 29, 2022 @ Mililani [ 4:00 pm ]

Kaiser

21

Nanakuli

35

Final 1 2 3 4 T
Kaiser (6-5-0) 7 7 0 721
Nanakuli (10-2-0) 7 21 7 035
Hansen Salausa-Kaawa 138 yd 1 TD
Easton Yoshino 137 yd 2 TD
David Kalili 52 yd 1 TD
Makana Naleieha 82 yd 2 TD

MILILANI — The Nanakuli Golden Hawks pulled off many tricks to earn the ultimate treat Saturday night.

Nanakuli opened up the playbook and Hansen Salausa-Kaawa had a hand in four total touchdowns as the Golden Hawks knocked off Kaiser, 35-21, to win the OIA Division II championship at Mililani's John Kauinana Stadium.

A flurry of reverses and double passes saw Nanakuli scored 28 straight points to pull away from the Cougars en route to its third league crown in school history, the team's first since 2014.

"It means a lot to take this back home to the valley," said Nanakuli coach Kili Watson, who was the offensive coordinator on the last championship squad.

"A lot of people love to claim Nanakuli and it means a lot for these kids who have to go through the daily struggles and the daily challenges as a Nanakuli kid and being able to persevere through all of those adversities and stereotypes and winning it and taking it back home to the valley means a lot."

Salausa-Kaawa threw for 138 yards and a TD, ran six times for 60 yards and two scores and caught a 25-yard TD pass just before the end of the first half to give the Golden Hawks (9-1 overall, 9-0 OIA D2) a 28-14 lead at the break.

Kaiser QB Hansen Salausa-Kaawa puts up a stiff arm against a Kaiser defender. Brian Bautista | SL    Purchase image

The senior quarterback's scoring grab came off the hands off his favorite receiver David Kalili, who finished with five receptions for 52 yards and a TD. After Salausa-Kaawa handed the ball off to running back Nathan Pele-Tukumoeatu, Kalili reversed field to take the pitch. The Kaiser defense collapsed on Kalili, which opened up Salausa-Kaawa to catch Kalili's pass and walk in untouched for the score.

"It's all praise to our coaches," said Salausa-Kaawa. "They watch film more than any of us and they come up with plays that we can use against them that would work."

Pele-Tukumoeatu, who did not touch the ball in the opening quarter, scored the go-ahead run for the Golden Hawks with 2:16 left to play in the second quarter.

Allen Mahoe III was had a solid all-around game with 38 yards rushing and 51 yards receiving. He also ran in a 2-point conversion and was one of four different Nanakuli players to attempt a pass, which resulted in a 32-yard completion to Pele-Tukumoeatu.

Salausa-Kaawa's 16-yard scamper late in the third quarter provided the final TD of the night for the Golden Hawks.

"We worked for this all summer during the offseason," said Salausa-Kaawa. "This is a very big team win. We wanted it more than them and that's how we won."

Nanakuli senior Hansen-Salausa-Kaawa dives into the end zone for one of his four touchdowns against Kaiser. Brian Bautista | SL    Purchase image

Defensively the Golden Hawks recorded 10 tackles for loss, with five of them coming on sacks. Junior linebacker Lester Meyers III led the way with nine total tackles, four of which were TFLs. Maika Peralta was also solid with three TFLs. Christopher Paulo and Cyprus Rombawa-Kai-Rivera were solid in the secondary with a pass breakup each in the fourth quarter.

"Our defense is our key," Salausa-Kaawa said. "Defense wins championships. They worked really hard this whole season and they gave us work, with just makes our offense better."

Kaiser (6-4, 6-3) struck first on its opening drive as Easton Yoshino went 5-for-5 for 70 yards to start the game as the Cougars ran the RPO to success with catches over the middle. Makana Naleieha's 4-yard TD reception from Yoshino put the Cougars up 7-0 at the 8:47 mark of the first period.

Nanakuli went 3-and-out on its first possession, but got the ball right back after forcing a Kaiser punt. The Golden Hawks would go on to score on their second drive on Salausa-Kaawa's 10-yard pass to Kalili on a speed out route towards the left sideline. The scoring drive was also aided by Salausa-Kaawa's 12-yard completion to Kalili to convert on fourth-and-2.

"Hansen does a great job of just saying cool, calm and collected," Watson said of his signal-caller. "He's cool as a cucumber as they say. For him, he's just having fun out there and you can see him smiling. I'm just proud of that kid."

The score remained tied at 7 until Yoshino's 3-yard TD pass to Keagan Lime after faking a handoff. Ian Shearer's PAT made it 14-7 at the 9:06 mark of the second quarter.

Pele-Tukumoeatu went to work on the ensuing possession with a big 40-yard run that took the Golden Hawks from midfield to the Kaiser 10-yard line. Back-to-back false starts pushed Nanakuli back before runs by Salausa-Kaawa and Mahoe got the Golden Hawks down to 1-yard line with fourth down looming. An encroachment penalty and an illegal participation penalty against the Cougars set up Salausa-Kaawa's sneak from point-blank range. The 2-point try was no good however to leave Kaiser in the lead, 14-13.

A 10-yard sack from Peralta on Yoshino derailed the Cougars' following drive which forced a punt to give Nanakuli the ball back, which set up Pele-Tukumoeatu's go-ahead score.

Things took a turn against Kaiser on the next series as Yoshino was sacked by Meyers and knocked out of the game with what appeared to be a lower body injury. He never returned after that moment and finished with a stat line of 13-for-19 passing for 137 yards and two TDs.

Donovan Reis handled QB duties the rest of the way and ended up going 6-for-17 for 92 yards. He did manage to hit Naleieha for a 30-yard TD early in the fourth quarter to give Kaiser some life.

"Give credit to Nanakuli, they did a heckuva of a job," said Kaiser coach Tim Seaman. "Offensively, defensively they were the better team."

Both teams will have a week off before the First Hawaiian Bank Football State Championships. The D2 tournament starts on Saturday Nov. 12.

Nanakuli is seeded fourth in the tourney and will host PAC-5 in a 7:00 p.m. contest.

Kaiser will travel to take on third-seeded Waimea in a 1:00 p.m. affair at Hanapepe Stadium on the same day.


Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].




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