The Keaukaha Warriors’ Kilohana Haasenritter went around Westside Eagles tacklers for his first touchdown, got behind them for his second and he ran through them for this third score in a 22-0 victory on Saturday, advancing his team to the junior midget championship game.
The only time Haasenritter got into trouble at Wong Stadium was when he tried to leap over defenders – that’s a Pop Warner no-no.
Haasenritter’s 67-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage Sunday set the tone, though two of his most electrifying plays were called back because he tried to hurdle defenders.
“I like to practice for the next level,” Haasenritter said of his leaps.
Keaukaha (7-0-1) will play the Panaewa Alii for the title next Sunday at 10 a.m. next Sunday at Konawaena High School. In the earlier semifinal game at Wong Stadium, Panaewa used a last-second goalline stand to hold off the Wailoa Razorbacks 21-14.
Keaukaha and Panaewa tied during their regular-season meeting.
“Homestead vs. homestead, you have a lot of real talented kids,” Warriors coach David Murray said. “Next week’s game is going to be intense.”
Haasenritter, an eighth-grader who is home-schooled, ran for 133 yards and two scores, and he was on the receiving end of a 38-yard touchdown pass from Kyan Miyasato, accounting for all of the game’s points.
“If you watch tape of the Wailoa game he actually hurdled a player and kept running,” Murray said. “It was outstanding.”
That’s also an accurate term to describe a defense that allowed Westside to accumulate only 76 yards of offense on its nine possessions. The Warriors finished with three sacks, and of the Eagles’ 20 running plays, 13 went for 2 yards or fewer.
Many of Keaukaha’s players earned a measure of revenge after losing to the Eagles in the peewee title game the last two seasons. The Warriors won the regular season meeting this year 16-6.
“Our defensive ends were trying to box the offense as much as we could,” Murray said. “Last time we played them they had a lot of jet sweeps. Our defensive backs played really well and we were able to put them in man coverage.”
Westside’s biggest play was a 19-yard pass from Jamison Medeiros to Henry Ladorre. Tevin Torres had an interception for the Eagles, who will play Wailoa at 8 a.m. next Sunday in the third-place game at Konawaena.
Layne Deperalta added 78 yards rushing for the Warriors.
Haasenritter’s touchdown catch came on a fourth down play in the second quarter, and after a 24-yard scamper on fourth down in the third quarter, he ran 12 yards for his final score.
“Execution was what drove the offense,” he said.
“It was a nice experience,” Haasenritter added of playing in front of a decent-sized crowd a Wong.