WAIMEA — Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s skeleton crew of 21 players was running out of gas late in the fourth quarter against a hard-charging King Kekaulike squad.
After taking a 20-0 halftime lead on a sunny Saturday afternoon, Ka Makani watched Na Alii reel off 19 unanswered to come back and have a chance to take the lead with just under three minutes left with a two-point conversion.
With time winding down, first-year Hawaii Prep head coach Albert Cummings brought his team in for a talk.
“I told them we are all we got,” Cummings said. “I can’t call four or five guys to come in to give you a break. We are one family — stick together and finish this.”
Hawaii Prep got its stop, stuffing the two-point conversion and hanging on for the thrilling 20-19 victory.
“Things got hairy at the end there. It showed our vulnerabilities and what we have to work on, but also that we can pull out a tight game if we have to,” Cummings said. “They battled some adversity, but this is only one. We have a long season.”
Sheldon Aribal led the way for Ka Makani with 122 yards rushing, including a 70-yard scamper for Hawaii Prep’s first touchdown of the season.
But like most of the Ka Makani players, that stat line won’t tell the full story of Aribal’s game. He never left the field for more than a few plays, also lining up as a full-time linebacker and returning punts.
As Aribal said, it was just “a classic Ka Makani game.”
“We came to play. Coach made sure we were ready to go,” Aribal said. “Everybody was tired in the fourth quarter. We just had to battle.”
Hawaii Prep forfeited its final game last season due to lack of players. For Aribal — a senior who has been a multi-year contributor for Ka Makani — he’s glad to see things heading in the right direction.
“Coming from last year where we had to forfeit that last game to now winning our opener is a pretty incredible turnaround,” he said. “It feels amazing.”
It was the first home victory since 2015 for Hawaii Prep. The 2016 campaign was a winless one and both of Ka Makani’s victories last season against Seabury Hall — an 8-man team from Maui — and Waiakea, came on the road.
“Heart has never been the problem,” Cummings said. “They all want change. They want to know what it feels like to be winners. It’s something they have tasted only a few times over the last three years. In this game they found that little bit extra inside them to finish it off.”
Despite the win, there were no promises of lighter conditioning when practice rolls around.
“Coach said it’s only going to get harder,” an exhausted Aribal said with a laugh.
“I just had to get them thinking,” Cummings said. “They can’t be satisfied. The hard work isn’t over because one win in the preseason.”
There will be plenty of teachable moments from the game, the most notable for Ka Makani being the quarterback-center exchange out of the shotgun set. Eight fumbles were caused by stray snaps, with Hawaii Prep losing three. In the first quarter, Hawaii Prep fumbled four times — including on the first play of the game.
But Ka Makani fought through the early adversity and Aribal finally found his break. He shuffled around in a crowded backfield before finding a hole and sprinting 70 yards.
”Was it 70? Wow,” Aribal said. “It was an inside run to the right and I saw some blocks so cut across the field and was gone.”
Despite being outmanned, the ironman defensive unit of Ka Makani did not have a problem containing the sweep heavy King Kekaulike offense. The longest run for Na Alii in the game was a 20-yard scramble by QB Franco Melgar Martich at the end of the first half.
The Ka Makani defense found the scoreboard in the second quarter when Keawe Strance scooped and scored a fumble from 30 yards out.
Ka Makani had no problems kicking the ball in the first half. Conor Hunt was booming kickoffs through the end zone and tacked on two first half field goals of 25 and 27 yards to give Hawaii Prep a 20-0 edge at the break. Hunt was 2-of-3 on kicks in the game, missing a 35-plus kick in the second half.
Early in the third quarter, King Kekaulike got on the board when Helmut Finau read a wide receiver screen, stepped in front of the pass and returned it 28 yards for the score.
As the third quarter crawled by, things started slowing down for Hawaii Prep. To start the fourth, King Kekaulike hit four consecutive passes on a scoring drive that ended with a 23-yard touchdown reception by Trey Hunter. Previous to that, Na Alii had just two completions in the game.
Offensively, Ka Makani could not find space. Blocking was breaking down and Hawaii Prep moved backwards for three drives in a row.
But right when it seemed like Na Alii were gaining major momentum, Todd Hill nabbed his second interception off of Melgar Martich. However, on the next play, Hawaii Prep fumbled its eighth snap, which was recovered by King Kekaulike, giving the Maui squad life once again.
King Kekaulike did not lack motivation as they drove down the field late. The team entered the contest on a 32-game losing streak, dating back to 2014.
Na Alii picked up a fourth-and-long to extend the final drive, and moved within a point on Hunter’s second TD grab of the game.
With a chance to end the losing streak, King Kekaulike had to no chance but to go for two and the win.
Na Alii called Lanakila Day’s number — a 5-foot-5, 225-pound freshman bowling ball of a back. He had a big 10-yard gain earlier on the scoring drive, but wouldn’t be as successful this time, getting stopped in the backfield by a hoard of Ka Makani tacklers.
The 21 players will likely be the lowest number for Hawaii Prep this season. The school’s boarders got into town this week and many were on the sideline for the game without pads. They will be the reinforcements after they meet the requirements to get on the field for Hawaii Prep’s BIIF opener on Aug. 31 against Hilo.
“The wheels are moving,” Cummings said, “where it goes, we’ll find out.”
