KEAAU – Honokaa quarterback Nainoa Falk wasn’t going to avoid watching the film of Thursday night’s first 24 minutes against Keaau.
In fact, he sounded like he was going to cherish it.
“We can learn from our mistakes and get better,” Falk said.
The reward for watching the first half was that he’ll get to see the second half.
After a comedy of errors, the Dragons turned in a cavalcade of highlights fueled by Falk, who led four second-half touchdown drives in a 36-20 victory against the Cougars in the BIIF regular-season opener.
“We told ourselves we had to get revved up and ready to go,” Falk said of the mood at halftime.
As well as Honokaa’s offense played for a half, its defense was just as good all game long against Keaau (0-1 BIIF Division I, 0-2), which was coming off of a winless season.
The Dragons’ first-team defense didn’t allow an offensive touchdown, and Trueston Andrade collected 2 1/2 of the Dragons’ nine sacks. Massive Shane Batalona and Kale Pahio took turns plugging the middle at nose guard, helping to hold the Cougars to negative rushing yardage.
“(Shane) takes up three blockers,” Keaau coach Kalei Young said. “When he is in the game, we couldn’t run up the middle, we had to run outside. That’s a difference-maker.”
Falk ran for two touchdowns and passed for a score, rushing for 105 yards – 91 as Honokaa pulled away from a 9-6 halftime lead. After an anemic first half in which Honokaa gained just 68 yards – Falk completed nine of 13 passes for 95 yards.
“We started to complete some passes and it softened the defense up a bit,” Honokaa coach Hana Hanohano said.
Keaau didn’t have positive yardage until quarterback Dillon Santos ripped off a 46-yard run on the opening drive of the third quarter. The drive was halted by a bad snap on fourth down from the 11, and Falk engineered Honokaa’s longest drive of the game, marching 72 yards in nine plays, with Ryan Akiau taking it in from 10 yards out to give Honokaa a two-score lead.
Honokaa went 70 yards on its next drive, leading to Weljane Valdez’s 3-yard touchdown run, and the Dragons took advantage of a short field on its next drive. On third down, Falk found Micah Fontes-Sarme for a 4-yard touchdown pass.
Keaau’s Damion Scandrick ended the rally, taking a reverse on a kickoff and racing 83 yards to the end zone.
As promised, Honokaa (1-0 BIIF Division I, 1-3) shuffled a plethora of running backs. Akiau, a late addition to the team, had a nifty 45-yard run in the second quarter to set up Falk’s first touchdown run.
“Akiau’s been behind because he came out late, but he came up big,” said Hanohano, who declared Friday as a film day. “We have a lot of mistakes to fix.”
Shotgun snaps were an adventure for both teams, leading to four turnovers for each.
Both squads are carrying larger rosters than they have in the past, but their youth and inexperience were evident.
The sloppy first quarter featured seven penalties, three turnovers, only one first down and a safety when Keaau punter Kage Kealamakia retreated to his end zone to recover a bad snap and slipped.
Keaau’s Dreq Agliam picked up an errant option pitch from Falk and raced 42 yards for a score with under a minute remaining in the second quarter.
“One positive is we found a quarterback,” Young said of Santos, a junior who looked more comfortable in the second half, connecting on a 35-yard touchdown pass to Charles Caldwell-Kaai. “He won the job because of his poise and you saw a lot of that tonight.”
Falk and Kaleo-Navas Clark intercepted Santos.
Keaau committed 12 penalties, and Young looked forward to a long week of practice ahead of the Cougars’ trip to Hawaii Prep on Sept. 5.
“Another positive is the mistakes are fixable,” Young said. “We just have to play a little more calm, cool and collected and keep our emotions in check.”
Honokaa 2 7 7 20 – 36
Keaau 0 6 0 14 – 20
First quarter
Honokaa – Safety, Kage Kealamakia tackled in end zone, :53
Second quarter
Honokaa – Nainoa Falk 11 run (Zechariah Ugalde kick) , 3:08
Keaau – Dreq Agliam 42 fumble return (run failed), :15
Third quarter
Hono – Ryan Aikau 10 run (Ugalde kick), 4:26
Fourth quarter
Honokaa – Weljane Valdez 3 run 1:01 (Ugalde kick), 11:01
Honokaa – Micah Fontes-Sarme 4 pass from Falk (Ugalde kick), 7:06
Keaau –Damion Scandrick 83 kickoff return (pass failed) , 6:52
Honokaa – Falk 2 run (run failed), 2:04
Keaau – Charles Caldwell-Kaai 35 pass from Dillon Santos (pass good), 1:26